Wedding Gowns
by Glory Nizenea
Summary: Kari. Davis. Cross-dressing. Ex-girlfriends. Coffee. And a crotch-thrusting Betsumon... How did things come to this? (DAIKARI)
1. Chapter 1: He Sprays His Junk

**Disclaimer:** Digimon belongs to Toei, Bandai, and other associated affiliates. This is a non-profit fic. No infringement intended. This chapter references one of the CD Dramas. It's not imperative to have heard it in order to understand the story, but if you're interested, you can read a translation at ** ?p = 551** Just take out the spaces and turn the.s into periods. The story goes that after Davis is rejected by Kari and loses a soccer game, on top of even Cody getting a girlfriend before Davis, he gets really depressed during his visit with Mimi and Willis in New York. While there, they get trapped in a wintry dimension and meet a strange girl who doesn't know her name or what digimon or humans are, all she knows is that Davis was the only one who heard her voice...

**Genre:** Romance/Humor/Friendship/Drama

**Author's Note:** Hey, everyone! This is NOT my typical genre haha, but I hope you all enjoy regardless! This is about 3-4 chapters long (I have it all in a document but haven't split it up into chapters yet). This story's already finished, and I plan to post a chapter once every coupe of days or so (so I have time in-between chapters to edit each one before posting). Yay!

**Wedding Gowns**

**Chapter 1**

Ah, the joys of Odaiba. How long had it been since she saw this great white ferris wheel, these tiny minimalls, these parks? Kari's childhood swam like Gomamon in her reverie of memories. Right over there, she'd met Gatomon for the first time while chasing her pet cat. And there, there was the dock Wizardmon nearly sacrificed his life on to save them— well, okay, not all of the memories were good, but still.

And here, where she stood, was where the Dark Ocean swept her deep into their waves.

Kari hesitated there. It made her feel more alone than she'd felt in a while. Being swept up in that abysmal world, that too had made her feel alone, without Tai or TK or Gatomon to save her. To help her. She had to tap into a strength all her own to survive. It was actually such an empowering moment for her, she'd found reason and beauty in a world compounded by the very opposite of those virtues.

That was the first time she had felt truly powerful on her own. Not influenced by Gatomon, or by TK's side, or guided by Tai— she had done it all herself. With a little help, of course, toward the end.

It was that strength she found at that moment which gave her the strength to leave Japan in the first place. Mimi invited her to stay in New York with her so that Kari could attend an American University. The university Kari wanted to stay abroad at, however, was a long ways from New York, but Mimi's family also happened to own a cabin near Kari's dream college. It really was a dream come true. A fairytale.

But the fairytale was over now.

It was time she came home, at least for Christmas break.

_Everyone will be so shocked,_ she thought with a devious grin. _I can't wait to see the look on Tai's face!_

She'd told Gatomon to go on ahead without her, but to not quite go into the apartment yet. Kari wanted it to be a surprise. After all, she was a college student now and didn't have enough money to pay for any other sort of present, so her presence at the dinner table for Christmas would have to be enough. Especially because everyone thought she couldn't afford a plane back to Japan in time, so no one had any idea she was there.

In fact, that was why she couldn't even afford a dinky little bobble head from the dollar store. She'd spent too much on the tickets for her and Gatomon. It didn't help that ticket costs for digimon were higher than they were for humans, due to how difficult some digimon could be to deal with, and not all humans were comfortable yet to hang casually around them without freaking out even though nearly a decade had passed since MaloMyotismon's defeat.

Kari wandered through the sidewalks of Odaiba, occasionally stopping to peer into a shop window or snoop around a vendor cart. It wasn't long before Kari realized window shopping was even less fun when you didn't have money to buy anything with. At least if she had money, she could think, _Well, I COULD buy this, but I choose not to._ Now she just didn't have a choice.

Kari continued to pout over this thought until one shop window in particular caught her attention. She looked past the double-pane glass to the white gowns on display, dressed over thin, eyeless, mouthless figurines. Some were low-cut and V-neck, while others had elbow-sleeves and some had no sleeves at all. Most of them trailed behind by some feet, though one stopped at the knee.

_Wedding dresses..._

Kari pressed her hand against the glass. They were so pretty.

Sometimes she wondered if she would ever have the opportunity to try one on. One time, when she was about 7-years-old, she and a friend got into Mrs. Kamiya's closet. There, they pulled out her mother's wedding gown and put it on. Kari couldn't find the shoes her mother wore at her wedding, so instead she used a pair of white heeled Jimmy Choos that must have cost her mother a small fortune.

Oh, did Kari ever get an earful when her mother returned home to find her wedding dress strewn and wrinkled all over the floor. Kari never tried on that dress again. Though... she wondered if someday she would have the opportunity to wear her mother's wedding dress, maybe at her own wedding. If her mother's wasn't too yellow by then.

"Kari?"

Kari's heart leaped into her throat. Twisting around, her head almost clobbered Davis in the face.

"Davis!" she said, just as she tripped.

Davis, too, had whipped away in order to avoid Kari's frantic twirl, but in doing so he'd tripped and they both collided into each other, head-to-head, their foreheads cracking together. Flinging backwards, they landed flat on their asses, wincing.

"Ooooo..." Davis moaned, rubbing his forehead. "Jeez, Kamiya, and people say _I_ have a hard head."

"Sorry..." Kari murmured, also grimacing. "Where's V-mon?"

"I dunno," Davis replied, clumsily getting to his feet. He offered a hand to her. "I think the putz is secretly seeing another Destined behind my back."

He said this with a lop-sided grin. Kari grinned back and took his hand.

Davis had grown well over the past year. Baby fat had transferred to muscle from long days in the soccer field, his crush had faded over the years, and he was now seeing some other girl Kari didn't know the name of. At least, that's what he'd told her the last time they'd spoken face-to-face about four months ago. He was still the same old Davis, though, with his cocky, arrogant mannerisms, his Etemon-sized ego (or maybe that was too cruel even for Davis), his silly attitude and comments, and his inability to give up. While he attended cooking school somewhere in the northern part of the country, he still visited Odaiba as often as he could, at least once every other weekend.

Too many times Yolei talked to Kari over the phone about how often Davis visited Odaiba. It was like he couldn't let go or something. Then again, maybe he visited so frequently so he could see his girlfriend.

Davis with a girlfriend... the thought struck Kari as odd, she didn't know why. It wouldn't be the first girlfriend he had. In high school, he'd had a couple. He rarely attended dances and formals, but when he did he always had a date. Girls thought he was cute, though he wasn't super popular with them or anything. He also wasn't _un_popular, either.

Now that Kari thought about it though, most of his girlfriends didn't last very long. She remembered Davis's first girlfriend their freshman year in high school when they were 16. The girl was sweet and funny, a bit like Davis in fact, and they lasted about three months. If she remembered correctly, that was his longest relationship.

Kari hadn't faired much better, though.

"So, uh..."

Davis's bashful voice brought Kari back to reality. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and thanked the Lord Davis hadn't noticed.

Still grinning, he rubbed the back of his neck. "You getting married or something?"

"Wha?"

He nodded toward the window. Kari jumped. "Oh! The wedding gowns. Are you kidding, Davis Motomiya?! I'm 18-years-old!"

Davis chuckled. "You never know... Besides, it's been a while since I've seen you. Who knows what trouble you've been getting into."

"It's been four months! And I could say the same for you, by the way. You're the knucklehead."

"Yeah, but _you're_ a Kamiya."

"That's... Point well taken."

Kari fumed as Davis smugly shined his shoulder. He couldn't help but laugh even harder when she folded her arms in a pout that avoided his gaze. After a second of awkward silence, Davis finally asked, "So if you're not getting married, what are you doing looking at wedding dresses?"

"I was..." Kari nibbled her bottom lip in thought, unsure how to go on. "You'll laugh at me."

"Yes, yes I probably will," Davis confirmed.

_Well at least he's honest..._

Davis continued on without a reply from her, "If you wanna try 'em on, I can be your audience."

"That's kind of a creepy offer."

"I meant modeling!" Davis shouted. A sudden and furious blush crept over his cheeks as she giggled at him.

"Trying on wedding gowns for Davis Motomiya..." She tasted the sentence on her tongue, then couldn't help but give him a devious grin. His own grin had faded into curiosity. "You know what this means, don't you?"

He shook his head.

"This means you and I can't ever get married." When Davis still looked blank, she continued, "You know what they say. Seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding is bad luck."

Davis continued blinking. Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Well, I have a thing for ruining bad luck's winning streak. That's what bad luck gets for challenging the boy who beat dreams!"

Kari actually sighed. The same old Davis. A little more mature, sure, which came with age. But he was still the same. Actually, it was a bit comforting when she thought about it. When almost everything in her life had so radically shifted, some things had stayed the same. It was a sort of stability she no longer had back in college, a stability she knew she should enjoy while it lasted.

She would miss it when she no longer had it.

"It was a joke, Davis."

"Bah. I know a part of you actually believes it."

"And why's that?"

"I just... _know_." At this, he gave a careless shrug, his voice rising on the word "know".

Kari actually did smile at this. "Okay. Let's do it."

"You're modeling?"

"I'm modeling."

"The eleven-year-old in me just nose-bled to death."

With a laugh, the two entered the store. A bell dangling over the frame chimed as the door swung open, and an elderly Babamon at the register greeted them with her stitch-lipped smile.

As time passed, Kari must have modeled at least four or five for Davis. She liked the way the silk ran down her skin, almost like ribbons of water, while others were beaded and velvet and had camisoles and others didn't. One dress had a trailing veil that was six feet long, which she used to mummify Davis.

By the time they got to dress seven or eight, or maybe it was ten, Kari sighed and stopped right in front of Davis. He blinked up at her. She curled her fingers into fists and dug them into her hips.

At first, she frowned angrily at him. He bowed his head a little, unsure what he did. Then her creased brow loosened and her lips curled upward so she looked as mischievous as ever.

"Come with me," she said, reaching down to scoop up his hand. He blinked.

"Wha...?"

"Just move it before Babamon notices!"

Within seconds, she had him in the changing room with her. He blinked again and reddened.

"Uh... um...er..." he stammered. His face had gone from its soccer-tanned hue to a heightened pink, then deeper into a sunburned red, as he avoided Kari's stern gaze. Kari actually had to hold in a laugh when her bare shoulder briefly touched his cheek and she realized how hot it was. "Kari, you, um... You've changed... You really are a college girl I guess..."

"Huh?" Now she was the confused one. A second later and then Kari was the blushing one. "Davis! I didn't bring you in here to... Well, I brought you in here for _this_!"

She held up one of the black bags with the wedding gown inside it. She unzipped it so that he could see its shimmering sleeveless camisole, it low V-neck, its fitted waist and layers upon layers of velvet threads that lined the lower half. White and gold beads lined the top of the V-neck and split down the seams so that it could embellish along the midsection point. The veil was taller than the dress itself.

Davis looked at it and motioned to rub the back of his neck, but his elbow instead crunched against the wall with a loud cracking noise. Even Kari winced as he hissed and grabbed the poor wound. "Owowowow!"

"Funny bone?"

He gave an agonized, pitiable, wounded-puppy-dog nod. Kari suddenly felt a little sorry for dragging him into such a cramped space, but there was only one fitting room and she didn't want Babamon to notice him coming in here with a dress.

Once the pain finally faded, Davis looked back up at Kari, still half-wincing. "Well, yeah, that dress is nice too, but why'd you bring me in here to see it?"

"Because that's the one _you're_ going to model for _me_!"

Davis's expression again withered so he gave her a blank stare. There was a moment of silence. Then he barked with laughter. For a second, Kari was worried Babamon would hear him and investigate, but when no one knocked on the door, she gave a sigh of relief.

After his laughter died, he grinned at Kari and said, "That was great. For a moment I actually thought you were being serious."

"I _was_ being serious."

"You lie."

"I speak the truth!"

"I can't handle the truth!"

"Haha, homage."

"Kari!"

"Oh, come on," she pleaded, pushing it up against his chest. "It's your color, Davis!"

"It's WHITE."

"YOU'RE white."

"No, I'm ASIAN. Are you on _drugs_?"

"Did _you_ just ask that?" At this, both Kari and Davis suddenly burst into laughter. After a few lingering seconds, though, she sighed and said, "Hey, hey, I just modeled like a million dresses. It's your turn to entertain me a little. It's only fair."

"I thought I was entertaining you already, so you could try them on," Davis replied.

Well he was a lot more clever than she gave him credit for. But then again, Davis had always been clever, just in a different way than most people expected. He was part of the "never give up" phenomena.

_Time to pull out the big guns_, Kari thought. _Taking off the gloves!_

She puckered her bottom lip, her eyes glazing over. Tilting her head to the side and clasping her hands together, with the bagged dress between them, she said coaxingly, "Please, Davis? For me? No one has to know. I just think it'd be funny. And come on, it's not like you've never played dress-up with women's clothing before."

At this latter sentence, Davis squinted at her. "Been talking to Jun again, have you?"

Kari answered with a giggle.

He sighed and relieved the dress from her hands. "Fine, fine," he grunted. "But then you have to try on one more of _my_ choosing. Deal?"

"Deal."

They shook on it. There was a couple more seconds of silence, with neither moving or saying anything, until Davis cleared his throat and pointed at the door. Kari blinked at him. "What?"

He again cleared his throat and nodded at the door.

"I can't go out there," Kari replied in a whisper. "Then Babamon will suspect something!"

"So you want to stay in here." Davis paused. "...While I'm dressing."

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"Well okay then. I'm Davis Motomiya, you're Kari Kamiya, I have no objections." He gave a suave grin and motioned to pull down his trousers. After a few seconds, he paused and held up a finger. "Though I warn you— well, _prepare_ you, anyway," he went on, "I'm not a boxers or briefs kinda guy."

She grinned. "Never pegged you for the whitey tighties type."

"I'm not one of them, either." When Kari tilted her head to the side, Davis raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I like it commando."

"Okay I'm leaving."

Only after Kari left the box did Davis call out after her, "Haha, you fell for it. I'm totally wearing boxers. Bet you're sad you don't get to see them! They smell like Axe."

"...You spray your boxers."

"Right on the junk."

"..."

"Ladies love it."

"Oh God, Davis. You would."

About five minutes later, Davis called Kari back into the box. Kari expected to see him fully dressed and was instead greeted by the sight of him reaching behind him toward the zipper, biting his tongue, half-squinting and craning his neck to try to see behind him. Several times he twisted around to peer into the mirror as if it would give him a better angle, but came out more frustrated than before when it didn't.

Davis gave Kari another agonized, pitiable, wounded-puppy-dog look. "Kari, help."

"It's not easy, is it?"

"Blah, blah, blah. Just zip me up already!"

Kari's fingers fumbled with the zipper as she tried to bring it up. Davis's body type was a lot brawnier than hers, it was difficult, even for someone with a decent angle. She should have known it would have been trouble to get the dress all the way on. But she was determined.

About five minutes later, she was still determined, but her resolve was greatly waning.

Davis, however, had not wavered. "Okay, if we're going through all this trouble just to see me in drag, you better freaking get that zipped, Kari, otherwise I will never forgive you for this."

Kari bit back a laugh. Another five minutes later, Kari was about ready to roost her foot on his back and bend him over in order to jerk the zipper up, but she was terrified of ripping the fragile material of the gown. Then she would have to buy it. And who knew if she could even afford it— she could just barely afford a ticket home, and she was pretty sure her diet for the rest of the semester would consist of cheap American Ramen and spaghetti noodles.

As Kari gave a loud, frustrated sigh, Davis actually pumped his fist in the air.

"C'mon, Kari, don't give up!" he encouraged. "You can do it, I believe in you!"

_Oh, God..._

Even ten minutes later, he was as encouraging as ever, but no amount of abetting could possibly make Kari continue for twenty whole minutes unless she really did want to see him in drag. What prank could possibly be worth this much time and effort?

"You know, Davis," Kari said, releasing the zipper. "I really was kidding when I suggested you try this on. But when you fell for it, I figured, eh, why not?"

"I know," Davis replied, craning his neck so that she could see half his face. He was grinning. "And I actually did get this dress zipped up before you came in here, but I unzipped it and jammed it just to frustrate the hell out of you."

Kari hiccuped with surprise. Even gawked. Then she pulled back and half-glared at him. "Ooo, you're good."

"Babamon can fix a jammed zipper easy-peasy." He waved a hand dismissively and turned fully toward Kari.

Finally, she saw Davis in full-view, his gown flowing – though not all the way zipped up, it was more than enough to show off his lack of curves – and his veil fluttering behind his head. He twirled in a circle so that the gown fanned out around him. Kari applauded him with a giggle.

Then, giving a low bow, Davis said, "I do!"

Kari giggled and applauded a second time. "Encore! Encore!"

Davis gave a second whirl, the breeze from the fanning gown gently wrapping around Kari's shins and calves. "This is the happiest day of my life!" Davis facetiously grabbed his mouth and bobbed his hips in as femininely a matter as he could manage. For a moment Kari thought he'd studied model competitions with how easily he pulled all of this off. _Well he is Jun's brother,_ she thought.

He twirled and twirled and twirled for a while, and the two laughed and joked, and soon Davis turned back to her and said, "Now it's your turn for the final dress. I get to pick, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

_Oh. Yeah._ Oh crap.

He was going to be horrible. She made him cross-dress. An egotistical manly macho man, Davis, in a wedding dress... oh no, his vengeance was going to be ungodly, she could feel it rattling her bones. Why in the world did she agree to this?

Davis actually walked out of the booth still wearing the wedding gown. Luckily Babamon was in the back so she hadn't seen him wandering about in it. He seemed to have not any conscientiousness over it however, because he even flaunted his pretty, pretty dress to another female customer.

"Don't you just love the embroidery?" he asked.

The woman customer raised an eyebrow and simply walked away, while another one nearby smiled at him and said, "Oh, it's beautiful."

Davis laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I was kind of surprised I'd like it so much! Wait, no I wasn't."

Kari buckled over laughing. Okay, maybe his vengeance _would_ be worth it after all. Several times he commented on how airy it felt down there and how much he liked it, which made one or two of the female customers giggle.

He'd even gotten a couple of numbers.

However he pulled _that_ off, Kari had no idea.

Wait, why was he even getting numbers? He had a girlfriend.

_What a player,_ she said with a squint.

Not long after, Davis returned to the booth (just in time, Babamon had come out to help a few customers find their size preferences). In his hands he held a very precious gown that Kari had not realized was on the shelf. If she had, she might have tried it on instead of a couple of other ones she did just for the hell of it.

It was as white as snow. Off-white whirls embellished the bottom half of the dress, but it was tight to the skin, not as fluffy as the other ones. It was sleeveless with a heart-shaped neck, and a cape-like structure extended out from the back to trail on the ground along with the long veil. It was gorgeous, actually. Kari had to admire Davis's taste.

Then it hit her. This was his vengeance. Her trying this tasteful dress on. She'd been horrified that he would pick out something with very low cleavage, very short, maybe something up to her thighs. She was afraid it would be very... bare. Or leopard print. Or furry. Or feathery. Kari had no problem with those dresses, and on a lot of girls they looked great, but she never really had the confidence to pull it off. Even if she did have the confidence, it just wasn't her style.

"Okay, I'mma step out, be back in a minute," Davis told her. He then placed a package on top of the dress as well. "But you have to wear this when you model for me."

He then stepped out of the booth, still wearing the dress, and waited for her to finish dressing. Kari blinked down at the package. Carefully sliding the dress onto a hanger, she ripped open the plastic... and what she found inside made her giggle. It was a fake mustache.

Then came on a knock on the booth. "Kari?"

"Yeah, Davis?"

"That wasn't what I wanted you to try on."

She paused and looked at the door. "..." She paused again. Then, befuddled, she said, "What?"

"I just grabbed it because I thought you'd like to try it on. I have your outfit right here."

_Oh. Oh! Crap!_

She slid open the door to find Davis carrying not a single dress on a hanger. What he held actually made Kari guffaw. He hadn't grabbed even a dress or a skirt, or even jeans. Instead, what he held in his hand was none other than a _tux_.

A _men's_ tuxedo. White coat. White undershirt. White vest. White trousers. White men's shoes.

He grinned evilly and said, _"With_ the mustache, Kamiya."

Kari stared in stunned silence for what felt like eternity. Then, finally, she burst out in laughter.

For at least an hour, Kari and Davis walked around the store in drag. A good portion of the customers loved it. Babamon, surprisingly, thought it was a hoot and actually offered to lower the gown and tux to half-price (though Davis and Kari had to reject the offer, solely because neither of them really had enough moola with college funds bombarding their lives). Finally, when the time came and they grew tired, Kari and Davis dressed out of their cross-dressing gown and tux.

Kari motioned to pull on her jeans when she heard a knock on the door. His voice confirmed it was Davis as he said, "Hey Kamiya, don't forget to try on that other dress... if you're still in the mood."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me," Kari called back to him.

Davis didn't answer, but she had a feeling he must have blushed. Within a few minutes, she came out of the booth again, this time dressed in the white gown she'd appreciated so much before. Davis did not typically have great taste in women's clothing. But that was normal, considering it wasn't something he typically shopped for. Though Kari knew what she was attracted to, when it came to buying men's clothing, a lot of things confused her— like the difference in sizes.

She didn't think Davis could have had that great of taste to notice this good of a dress. But then again, this _was_ the kid who had a flame-embellished jacket _with fur trimming_ in the Digital World. She didn't know how she could be so surprised.

As she stepped out of the booth, Kari was quick to register Davis's reaction. He'd been sitting on the couch opposite of the door, sprawled out, obviously tired from a long day. By the time they bumped into each other on the street, it was already dusk. Now it was approaching 8 and she was sure he was getting tired.

But when she stepped out, something beyond recognition or tiredness struck him. He actually glanced at her, then at the ceiling, then quickly back at her, then shifted in his seat so that he sat upright. His jaw loosened until it almost slackened, but it remained clamped.

He then cleared his throat and looked away, reddening slightly. "You look great."

"Just great?" she teased.

He risked another cautious glance in her direction, the red tinge growing. "...Gorgeous," he half-stammered. He then shook his head and stood. "Twirl for me."

She did as he asked. The dress fanned out just a bit toward the bottom. She felt like a mermaid.

"We should get a cup of coffee after this," Davis said suddenly. When Kari raised an eyebrow, he held up both hands in front of his chest and said, "Just to catch up. I'm not ready yet to give you up to your brother and TK. I hope you don't want to give me up yet, either. This has been fun and everything, but we haven't really talked."

"...I suppose I'll keep you," she replied, stepping sassily back in the booth and motioning to close the door. She tossed a sultry grin in his direction. "For now."

He grinned back at her.

They were on their way soon after. They caught the café nearest to the apartment of Kari's parents, where she was sure she would be staying for the holidays. That was typically where Tai stayed as well, though sometimes he deviated and stayed with Matt and Sora in their little shared flat downtown.

They sat in silence for a while. The fuming heat of her coffee mug felt good against the creeping winter chill. The aroma coiled from the steam in the cup, the scent alone enough to wake her up the slightest bit.

Davis was the first to speak. "Does your brother know you're back in town?"

"Nope." She smiled. "I want it to be a surprise, so shh."

Davis smiled back. "Too bad the apartment doesn't have a chimney. Otherwise I'd say you should wait until Christmas day and climb down it in a red coat, just to scare the crap out of everyone. Wouldn't you love to see Tai's face?"

"Actually, I would." She giggled.

Then there was silence again. She didn't know why, but it felt strained. Maybe it was because she'd been absent for so long. Maybe it was because she and Davis had grown so far apart the last few months... They were still friends in high school, but after graduation a lot of their group seemed to disperse. She didn't talk to her high school friends a whole lot anymore, though she still kept in good contact with most of the Destined she grew up with, like Tai's group. Besides Gatomon, Yolei and TK were still her best friends. Davis was supposed to be her oldest friend, but...

What had been the block between them? Ever since she moved away to college... Well, since they _both_ moved away to college, anyway.

It was amazing that kind of space could transcend between them, especially with everything they had been through throughout the years. To think, her adventures began when she was only 8. Sure, there was that one night when Greymon and Parrotmon fought, and perhaps that was truly the beginning, but the action hadn't picked up until ten years ago.

An entire decade had passed by. She could hardly believe it.

Was this really her life?

Sometimes it felt like she was watching herself from the outside.

Davis was also watching the outside, though his form of thought was physical. She briefly wondered what must have been running through his mind. His face was blank as a board. Something behind his eyes stirred, but she couldn't tell what. Deep thought? Sadness? Happiness? Maybe a myriad of all of them?

Maybe she was just overthinking things. No, she was definitely overthinking it.

"So..." Her voice brought Davis out of his own inward-reverie of memories as well. "Whatever happened with you and that one girl?"

Davis blinked. "Oh, you mean from the summer?"

"Yeah."

At this, Davis stammered a bit, avoiding her gaze. He looked down at the tabletop. "Oh, she uh... uhh..."

Kari raised an eyebrow and quirked her lips into an expectant grin. "She uh what?"

"She..." Davis's cheeks reddened. Finally, he gave an embarrassed, nervous, half-sad smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "She kinda' broke my heart, actually."

"Oh..." Kari scratched her chin. Then, once what he said really registered, she removed her hand and widened her eyes. "Oh, Davis, I'm so sorry."

Davis shrugged. "Not your fault. Not really."

Kari and Davis both went silent again. Yes, this was _definitely_ an awkward situation. Davis had covered his lips and was now looking out of the window again, his brow furrowed. He almost looked irritated. Kari rubbed the back of her neck. "Was it another me situation?"

Davis gave a confused glance.

"You know," she said. Her voice curled a little at the hinges, just like her lips, so that she gave a joking grin. "Like you thought she was your girlfriend but she really wasn't."

Davis half-heartedly glared at her. "Kari, I was _eleven_. And a dork. Would you give it a rest?"

Kari giggled. "You're still a dork."

His half-glare half-frown didn't waver a bit.

Kari sighed and held up her hands defensively. "Okay, okay," she said. "Enough teasing. Really, I am sorry, Davis. What happened? If you're okay to talk about it, that is. And I promise I won't tease you about it."

Davis eyed her suspiciously, but she gave him an honest look. He then avoided her eyes again to stare down at his dark coffee. Taking a small swig, he put it back down on the table before answering her question. "Uh... well... I..." He frowned. "I really liked her. More than she liked me, I guess. She felt like I was getting too serious too soon. So..."

Oh. _Oh_.

"It's okay," Kari replied, smiling softly at him. "Been there, done that. I think a lot of people have experiences like that. Did you tell her you loved her before she was ready to hear it?"

"No, thank God, but..." He sighed. Hurt flashed across his eyes. Kari felt like she was trampling over something very sacred to him, something he wasn't quite sure how to express even in his own head, much less through words. Hesitantly, Davis explained, "Sometimes I wondered if I did. You know, love her. Sometimes I wondered if I _could_. She said once that she loved me, but it kind of slipped out. I don't think she meant it. ...I don't know. It was... complicated. And rough for a while. But I'm okay now for the most part."

Kari remained silent. A very warm expression had suddenly sunken over Davis's face. He smiled, his shoulders relaxing. "She wanted to be a baker," he said, his forefinger tapping lightly against the handle of his mug. "I don't know, I want to be a noodle maker so it made sense. We both loved food. And she'd been through so much... I really admired her strength."

As Kari watched him, she couldn't help but find herself thinking, _Did Davis ever talk about me like this? Did he ever look like that when he talked about me?_

_No... He wouldn't have... After we defeated BelialVamdemon, he stopped his obsessive jealousy. Sometimes he would still react badly to my and TK's friendship, but... gradually, it stopped._

_But he started to mature even before BelialVamdemon's defeat, didn't he? It was subtle at first, but there. Maybe that fight with BelialVamdemon was just his moment of growth, his moment of realizing he didn't need to rely on anyone, even me, to feel better about himself._

_Like that moment in the Dark Ocean for me._

After a few seconds, Davis cleared his thoughts and shook his head. "Sorry. Don't mean to be a downer. What about your love life? Yolei tells me you're dating around. Very modern, Kamiya."

"Not dating around a _lot_ or anything, don't have the time or stamina for that between school and work. But yeah, just keeping my options open." She grinned jokingly at him.

He grinned back.

As Davis and Kari continued talking, Kari realized how funny it was. If Davis had never let go of her, then they would have never become such good friends. Granted, there was a distance between them, but she also felt like she was seeing sides of him she did not often get to witness when he had a crush on her. Sides of him he had been scared to show her because maybe they were vulnerable, sides that didn't make him out to be what he wanted her to think of him as. Before, it was always about impressing her. But now that he wasn't, she found herself more relaxed around him. And she noticed he was more relaxed, too.

Davis, vulnerable.

It was actually a funny thought.

The guy who helped bring down Armageddemon with a single tiny sword to the nose (well, that was his and Ken's digimon with a little Omegamon boost), but still. It was no exaggeration that Davis was one of the strongest Destined in the entire world. Kari couldn't deny that he, especially when jogressed with Ken, was probably even stronger than most of the older generation. Tai and Matt stood a good chance. TK with MagnaAngemon could put up a grand rivalry.

The most impressive things about Davis never had anything to do with the strength of his digimon or either of their fighting ability, though.

"Nah," Kari went on, "You're not being a downer, Davis. You're really not."

"You kidding?" He smiled. "I barely ever get to see you and the first thing we seriously talk about is depressing stuff."

"My fault for bringing it up."

"Like you would know she and I didn't work out."

"Yolei should have told me."

"Let's blame Yolei then."

"Yes, good plan." Kari laughed. "But really Davis, don't ever feel like you can't talk about something with me. That's the thing about you. You moan and groan and complain and whine about any little thing you can—"

"I'm sorry, is this supposed to make me feel better?"

"—but when it comes to the bigger hurts, you never vent to anyone about it. You always carry it around on your own," Kari went on.

"So what you're saying is," Davis interrupted, "I'm like you."

Kari just about had a heartattack. Where did that come from, him turning things around? When did he get the ability to do that? For a second she thought he was his sister. Oh, she thought. That was where he got it from.

Kari trotted very carefully over the ice. "That... wasn't really what I was getting at... What I was getting at is that I know when something is seriously hurting you, because you don't feel the need to whine about it."

"Well then, there's one difference in that area between us," Davis continued for her. "I complain about the little things and bottle up the bigger things. You never complain about anything and just bottle it all up period. No wonder I'm happier than you."

_Daaamn._

"Whoa, Davis," Kari said, pulling away a little. "I didn't mean to step on your toes or hurt you. My intention was to comfort. And what do you mean you're happier than me? I'm plenty happy."

"Yeah, that's why you've been single since high school... 'by choice'," he said. "Look, touting out my many flaws is not comforting, Kari. Why do you always do that?" Davis snapped, looking away from her with an angry frown.

Ah. So this was what happened when Davis's bottle was about to pop. He lashed out. She'd seen hints of it before, but never toward her. Sometimes he'd snap at TK or Yolei – usually not crossing a line unless they were in a dangerous situation – but it stunned her a little. That was how she definitely knew Davis had moved on. She was suddenly just as irritable to him as all his other friends— though, also just like all his other friends, she was also just as fun to be around. Funny how such a good day could be spoiled by the tiniest comment.

Kari's hand gently cupped one of his. She pulled it away from the mug so that it rested against the table and her hand. The soothing action softened Davis's expression the slightest bit.

"My point wasn't to rub it in your face," she replied. "My point was to tell you that you're strong, Davis. And you're thoughtful, not wanting to burden anyone with your own pains. You said it yourself: I speak from experience, so I know what that's like. I also know you have a habit of thinking your problems aren't worth listening to because everyone acts like they're not, but they _are _worth listening to, worth comforting you about. Don't ever think differently. You don't have to keep all this locked up inside. You have so many people willing to help you, Davis, if only you'd let them in."

Finally, he looked away from the window and back toward her. She didn't know how long they locked gazes. Something about his gaze made warmth stir inside her chest, build behind the bone, churn in her stomach. His brow crinkled. Her grip tightened on his hand.

When he broke eye contact, Kari was a little glad. The warmth which flooded her body dissipated.

"I can't do that, Kari," Davis said, shrugging off her hand and standing. "I let go of you about... six years ago I think? Yeah, six years ago, I remember because that was the summer I visited Mimi and Willis in New York. While there, I came across a really nice girl. She was sweet. Seemed as though she really liked me. Even though I'd just let go of you, I thought— well, I liked her too, Kari. Guess what, though?

"Turned out she was a digimon looking for her partner. She died right in front of me and turned into a DigiEgg, so I had to find her partner for her. I never saw her again after that.

"Ever since, I just... I can't do it," he said, looking at his hands with a frown. "Nothing makes sense to me anymore. People open up to me in so many ways, but I just... I disconnect. I can't let them in, not after Nat. Not after you. Not even you. It's been _six years_ and I'm still messed up by it. How screwed is that?"

"It's not screwed at all," she replied, grasping his hand again. "Davis, we've all been through so much. It was incredibly traumatic to see the things we saw, and still live to tell the tale. It wasn't right that Gennai and the Sovereign sent a bunch of _kids_ to fight their wars, and we were the ones who paid the ultimate price. _You_ paid the ultimate price. All we went through affected you, that's normal— it's still affecting you, that's also normal. You have to stop thinking things are wrong with you. It's normal to fear letting people in. But at least _try_. We're your friends, we'll be patient every step of the way."

"I _have_ been trying," Davis said, looking her in the eye. "Why do you think I've been in relationships in the first place? I've tried every single time, and it always blows up in my face. They're always so open with me that I just fall in love with them, but I don't let them in and let them love _me..._ and then I blame them for not feeling the same way."

"Davis, we're only 18. It's okay if you're not ready for a big committed relationship yet." Once again, Kari took him by the hand and pulled him slightly closer to her. "Gee, you're making me wonder if it should have been _me_ asking _you_ if you were getting married."

At that, Kari finally witnessed a smile form on his lips. It was small at first, and a little sad, but after a second he couldn't help but let it permeate his expression. He sighed and bowed his head.

"You're right, of course." He looked up at the ceiling. "Thank you, Kari."

"Heh. You're welcome."

"Sorry for snapping at you... I have no excuse. I shouldn't have taken out my frustration on you, especially because you've only just gotten here and I haven't even seen you for _months_. None of this is your fault."

"Dang right none of it is my fault," Kari confirmed with a grin. Davis gave a bashful grin back. She laughed a little. "I forgive you. Just quit it, will ya? And if you ever feel like you're reaching your limit... call me. I don't care if we haven't talked to each other for ten years. Just call me. Get my number from Tai or my parents if you have to, just do it. Or call TK or Yolei or Cody or Ken."

"Sometimes I'll talk to Yolei or Ken about stuff," Davis admitted. "TK and I have bonded a lil... and Cody mostly just nods and gives sagely advice, so if I need that I go to him, hah!"

"Well, good. It's a start, right?"

"Right." Davis nodded.

Kari's hands tightened around Davis's. Again, his gaze fell on hers. She wasn't sure what to do. Her hands didn't want to let go. He didn't make any move to pull away. These things... They had been embedded into his nature since they were little, but only now... only now had it come to the surface, the pain, the depression. The vulnerability.

Kari had felt it, too, deep inside her heart, like a rot. The black pit of a bad fruit. How could she not see that same vulnerability inside of Davis that stirred inside of her?

He was always so happy. And when he wasn't happy, he was irritable and whiny. But he was Davis. He was _Davis._

_He's Davis,_ she thought for a third time, feeling the warmth of his grip, her fingers pulling further into his palms. She felt her breath hitch. Davis froze. She swallowed. Her brow furrowed. _This is Davis... This has always been Davis... He has always had the potential to become this, he just needed to take the journey to get there..._

_This is Davis. I can't. He's Davis._

"Kari...?" Davis breathed, beginning to pull his hand away. She looked between his hand and his eyes. "Are you..."

Just then, they heard a clatter loud enough to make the both of them jump. Kari released Davis's hands. They twisted around to see one of the customers staring at them, a broken coffee mug at her feet, the coffee spilled all over the floor. Tears were in her eyes.

Davis went stark white. Kari peered at him and whispered, "Isn't that one of the Dark Spore children?"

"Keiko," Davis said, more to himself and the crying girl than to Kari. The girl dashed away before he could say anything else, crashing through the door and into the alley behind the café.

"Keiko, wait!" Davis called out. Without answering Kari's question, he got up and bolted after her.

"Davis, what in the world—?!" Kari immediately stood, left more than enough money to pay for their coffee plus tip (_Davis owes me!_), and chased after them into the darkness...

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Chapter 2: You Got ROBBED

**Disclaimer:** Sorry for any confusion with the link last chapter. I didn't realize they'd block it like that. To read the CD Drama translation, go to **digitalscratch PERIOD pmsinfirm PERIOD (o) (rg) /?p = 551** Just take out the spaces and parenthesis, and replace the PERIODs with actual periods.

**Theme Song: **"Wedding Dress" by Matt Nathanson, "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye ft. Kimbra

**Author's Note: **A major thank you to Digidestined Ninja of Sunshine, YuYuDigiMoon Fan, Sword Dancer Sapphy, and Danparker for the reviews, favorites, and alerts! That makes me feel really happy to know you are enjoying it! I hope you continue to do so. This chapter introduces a bit of a plot with a villain! Yay!

**Wedding Gowns**

**Chapter 2**

By the time Kari arrived in the dark alley, Davis and Keiko were screaming at each other, half the things said being things Kari couldn't even understand between their shrieks.

"I KNEW you'd go back to her!" Keiko was shouting. "The SECOND I start believing I may have misjudged you, I find you here!"

"Yeah, how convenient! I haven't even seen you since you _dumped me_!" Davis shouted back. "Gotta tell ya Keiko, this whole destiny thing is getting a little irritating! Whatever. I don't even know what you're talking about."

"That _girl_, you're always hanging around her—"

"_Please_.I also always hang around Yolei, who is one of my best friends, and if you think I'd ever touch that idea with a ten foot pole—"

"You're always talking about her, Davis! Kari! She's one of the most experienced Destined... She helped me, all those years ago against BelialVamdemon." Keiko's expression saddened. "Can't say I blame you for choosing her..."

"I haven't '_chosen'_ anyone," Davis replied more harshly than he meant to. "God, Keiko, she hasn't even _been here_ for four months! She's only been in Japan for a few hours! We're _friends_, just friends, we've always been _just friends!_ Besides, _**you left me**_! What does it matter to you who I date?!"

_We've always been just friends..._

The words hit Kari, she didn't know why. All those times she yelled at Davis that the two of them were just friends, that she and TK were just friends—

Keiko paused, then shook her head, the anger on her face more severe than before.

"Do you think I'm stupid?! You were holding hands!"

"She was _comforting me_ because I was _sad_. Sad about _**YOU**_. SERIOUSLY, Keiko, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? You left me because I care too much, now you're yelling at me for not caring enough!"

"I..." Confusion swam in her eyes, then melted to a glisten. "I miss you," she whispered, her voice breaking.

Davis fell silent.

_I shouldn't be here,_ Kari thought, stepping away. Her head felt a little hazy at first, but she wasn't sure why. Davis and Keiko... Keiko was the girl then? His ex-girlfriend? The Dark Spore girl from their fight in the Dream Realm, the one who said she'd be a baker? Of course. She was pretty. Her hair was longer than Kari's. Her legs were longer, too. She had this sort of deep, sultry voice, unlike Kari's voice— _Why am I comparing myself to her? _Kari thought, shaking her head. _This isn't my drama... I should go. This is private._

Davis saw her movements out of the corner of his eye. He swerved around to view her, his eyes widening with surprise. But before he could call her name, she took a step back, then another, and before she knew it, she had turned her back and was walking away. Davis's voice caught in his throat, unable to say her name. Kari didn't think she would have wanted him to. He missed Keiko. He spoke so fondly of her, like he truly did love her, and this wasn't any of Kari's business. She didn't know why she'd even followed him into the alley in the first place.

_Because you care about him,_ Kari thought. _He's your friend. He's always been just your friend._

_Right?_

Kari wandered aimlessly through the streets of Odaiba. She hadn't even realized it when her feet carried her all the way back to Babamon's wedding gown store. She lingered in front of the glass window again, watching the way the dresses drifted over the floors. Babamon must have closed shop because all the lights were off, the windows wiped clean and the floors swept and mopped. Kari imagined herself a small child again, dressed in her mother's white Chimmy Choos, the dress Davis picked out for her... angel-white layers of silk, gliding over the aisles. Free as a bird.

She was a Destined, though. Her first priority was keeping Earth and the Digital World safe, and making sure humans and digimon could live peacefully together. Even if she had the money for it, she didn't have time for romance, or weddings. Or dresses. Or the products to maintain long hair...

_I should be getting home, _she thought, turning away from the store. _Gatomon is probably worried. Besides, I can't wait to see Tai's face when I show up._

"Yo, Kari!"

At that second, the sound of footsteps halted her in her trek. Unfortunately, she chose to stop on a patch of ice, which resulted in her fumbling around. Seconds later, she lost her balance completely and fell face-forward into the person calling her name...

...Face-planting herself_ right into his lap_, in fact, seeing as she knocked him over when she in turn slipped.

"Owowowowow..." the guy moaned, rubbing his backside. He saw where Kari's face landed and blushed, but quickly looked away as if to pretend he hadn't noticed. "Jeez Kari, this is twice in one night. I'm starting to question whether or not you were a varsity cheerleader."

Kari blushed as she looked up to see who cushioned her fall. "Davis, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he replied with a frown. "You just took off. I've been looking everywhere. Was worried you might have gotten kidnapped or something— you know, by anti-digimon activists or people wanting to ransom Gennai or something."

"Oh, no, I just..." Kari felt her cheeks grow hot. She avoided his gaze. "I saw you with Keiko," she said in a very small voice. "Thought I should give you some privacy."

"Privacy. Ah. Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Kari cleared her throat. "So... did you two... uh..."

"So did we two uh what?"

He grinned, hoping she'd catch the throwback. She tried to smile back, then shook her head. _Maybe I don't want to know..._ This Davis was so different from the one she knew. _No, no he's not_, she then thought, which made her feel confused. _He's exactly the same. A little more mature, but they're one in the same. I just never realized it_.

Her eyes clouded over. Heat filled her chest and her head. She'd been feeling off ever since the café, but especially now it hit her. She wobbled to a stand.

Davis's brow furrowed. "You okay?"

"I'm..." Hazily, she stumbled back. Davis caught her by the shoulder and pulled her upright. Her skin flickered white, then back to its normal shade. Davis's brow furrowed.

"Kari?"

"I'm alr..." Just then, the world oozed together in a chasm of rainbow colors that swirled and blurred and twined until they were all a big black spot in the center of her vision. The big black spot swelled until it consumed her entire sight, leaving her in a pit of darkness that seethed at the edges.

Kari Kamiya fainted.

(-'102012001'-)

From the shadows, he watched her. The boy – the Davis boy – scrambled around to catch her before she could crack her skull on the concrete. Cradling her in his arms, he dashed off in the direction of a nearby apartment, calling out her name in a panicked tone, trying to wake her up.

His eyes followed the two human pests. How much he would have liked to steal the girl from Davis, then his plan would come to fruition. Everything was going according to scheme, and he was very excited.

Davis...

How long had it been since he'd seen the boy?

He'd traveled a long way for this moment. He wouldn't let anything spoil it.

Once Davis and the girl disappeared from view, he returned to the dark alley where he'd watched the scene. His claws sunk into a cloth and ripped it from the walling. Behind the shawl was a door to another room, leading from the alleyway.

Disguises were his forte. He could hide a room easier than he could hide himself. Make it look like just another wall in an alley, when really, it was a door.

He stepped inside. There were three cages on the floor. One was empty. Another cage held a human girl with dark hair and pretty eyes, who gently said his name, begging him to release her. The third and final cage held an unconscious feline, her eyes squeezed shut, her claws scratching the floor.

"Time to wake up, Gatomon."

(-'102010192010'-)

Kari swam in and out of consciousness from that point on. Sometimes there was a light shining in her face, bright and warm, other times she heard voices. Some of them she recognized, some of them she didn't. Once or twice she thought she heard someone humming. She wondered if it was her mother.

At one point, her surroundings came into focus enough for her to notice three faces staring down at her. They were blurry, sure, but she recognized their shape. Tai's overly spiky hair, his hand holding hers, his brow crinkled in worry. A flash of Davis's goggles behind him, watching her cautiously. TK's hat and blond hair, those beautiful blue eyes that stared into her own with a rare intensity that had always confused her.

Kari gave a tired smile and clenched Tai's hand. "My boys..." she murmured, then closed her eyes and drifted off again.

The next time Kari fully woke up, it was dawn. The scorched oranges and pinks of a rising Sun peered through the blinds and glowed against her face. It was the warmth that woke her. Her eyes opened half-lidded. For a second, she watched the dust motes flutter through the sunlight.

How long had she been asleep?

At least through the night. What happened? Where was Gatomon?

Just then, she heard her door creak open.

"Mom?" she whispered, leaning over the bed to see who entered her room.

It wasn't her mother. It wasn't even Tai or her father. In fact, it was Davis. He was carrying a tray of food, which he set down beside her bed on a nightstand. Kari watched him silently, her eyes narrowed, her fingers digging into the bedsheets.

"What happened?" she finally asked.

Davis looked at her. "You had a fever and fainted. I brought you home. You're okay now, but we had to give you an ice bath."

"You..." She reddened slightly.

Davis grinned at her. "Well, _I _didn't. Your mom did. Apparently this happens a lot with you?"

"Since I was little, yeah," she replied, looking down at her hands. "But I haven't gotten that sick in a while. I didn't even realize how sick I was."

"Here, eat," Davis abetted, bringing the tray over to her. "We were able to get you to drink some water earlier in the night, but you were so out of it we weren't able to get you to drink much."

Kari nodded and allowed him to place the tray over her lap. There was a banana, crackers, and a big Ramen bowl of soup, though the soup itself wasn't Ramen. In fact, Kari wasn't exactly sure what kind of soup it was. It had a lot of noodles, though, whatever it was. She dipped in the chopsticks and inhaled a large whiff. It smelled good, too. Her stomach clenched at the thought of devouring it; a grumble gurgled in the pit of it.

She blushed and looked up at Davis, hoping he hadn't heard it. By his grin she could tell he had.

After blowing on it a few times, she took her first bite. If it looked and smelled appetizing, it was nothing compared to how it tasted. Spiced to perfection, she could taste bouillon, pepper, threads of chicken and pork and Parmesan cheese melted into the broth, subtle but strong enough to notice. The noodles were soft but not soggy.

After gobbling up half the soup, she finally looked up at Davis, who had taken a seat at her desk to watch her eat. The two stared for a while, then she said, "Davis, this is orgasmic."

He turned a deep shade of scarlet. And she thought he'd turned the color of a horseradish when she pulled him into the changing booth! That was nothing compared to his pallor now.

She couldn't help but giggle. "Hehe, you're a Pervymon."

"I am not a Pervymon!" he said defensively.

"You are, too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"No!" He grew redder and redder by the second. "It's just... well, okay, yeah, that word... okay how could I not react like that?"

"Teehee."

After a few seconds of silence, Davis's blush still didn't wane.

"But it's also because..." With a frustrated frown, he looked down at his lap.

Kari raised an eyebrow. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's it. That's the recipe. Perfected. I haven't cooked it for anyone yet, not even Jun."

"The recipe...?" _Oh. Oh!_ His noodle cart recipe! This was... this was his dream in her hands. She blinked down at it. "Davis, this is amazing. It's so much better than it used to be."

When he said it was the "perfected" recipe, he meant it. Kari had tried several of his recipes throughout the years, each one supposedly better than the other, and winced at the mere memory. Why, just the summer before they moved away to college, he'd made her the guinea pig to a truly awful concoction. She didn't even know what he put in it – she kind of didn't want to – but she thought her tongue would fall out of her mouth and her intestines would shrivel in her stomach, it was so terrible. One time she walked in on him experimenting with different recipes, and witnessed just in time an exploding guck that scorched off his eyebrows.

She seriously doubted at that moment whether or not he would actually accomplish his dream, because none of his recipes were any good! He couldn't even cook Spaghetti-Os without messing them up somehow, much less his own recipe.

But he did it.

And of all people, he had chosen _her_ to try it first.

"Funny what just four months of chef school can do," Kari said with a grin.

He grinned back.

After she finished her meal, Kari finally looked back at him and said, "So where is everyone? Would have thought my mom would make me breakfast, not you." _That's not to say I don't appreciate Davis's soup..._ Kari shuddered at the thought of eating her mother's cooking. At least she tried, though. Even if she failed miserably. It was kind of endearing, Kari supposed.

"Oh, your parents had to go to work, so I said I'd look after you until you felt better," he said, looking down with another frown.

Uh oh. She didn't like that look. That was his "something bad happened" look.

"What about my brother?" she asked, scooting the food tray back to her nightstand. "Why isn't he looking after me?"

"He's..." He cleared his throat. "He's doing something else."

Kari raised an eyebrow. "Must be something important, for him to abandon his sick sister and leave me in _your_ care."

Davis half-heartedly glared at her. "Hey!"

She giggled, then continued with her investigation. "Why not TK? I can't see him just leaving me, especially if Tai can't take care of me."

"He and Patamon... went with Tai."

"Where?"

"They went to..." He again rubbed the back of his neck.

"They went where?"

"To look for Gatomon," he admitted, finally looking her in the eye. "Kari, do you know where she might have gone?"

Kari looked dumbstruck. They went off to look for Gatomon? Kari knew she'd lingered out with Davis longer than she meant to, but Gatomon would have been able to sense when Kari returned to the Kamiya apartment, or at least keep track of Kari's whereabouts. Gatomon knew the troubles of leaving her partner alone, especially in these rickety times between digimon and human relations. Destined were often used as bargaining chips between parties and she didn't want to see that happen to her partner, just like Kari didn't want to see that happen to Gatomon.

Already, just in the seven years the Earth had realized the existence of the Digital World, they had used digimon and Destined for their own selfish purposes. War. Mayhem. Assassination attempts. Betrayal and bloodbaths. Slaughter and coup. It was dangerous for a Destined to wander alone without his or her partner, and while Gatomon knew Kari could take care of herself, Gatomon also would know to keep a very close eye on her. Especially if it had been so many hours since they saw each other.

Kari tried to stand, but her vision blurred and she found herself sitting back down. "I have to find her," Kari said, her voice growing hoarse.

Davis shook his head. "That's why TK and Tai are out. You're too sick."

"And why didn't you go with them?" she snapped, trying to stand again. "You're always the brash guy who never has a plan when he goes rushing into battle! Why stay with the sick girl?"

"Because they wanted me to," Davis replied calmly. He frowned and looked away from her. "I was the first one to jump out the door, but Tai grabbed me and told me to stay put. I think he's worried someone might be after you. A few Destined have gone missing recently near here, and no one knows who the culprit is. There's a pattern. First the digimon partner goes missing, then the human. He wants me to protect you."

"I don't need your protection," she said through gritting teeth. Davis rested a hand on her shoulder and delicately sat her back down on the bed.

She didn't see V-mon anywhere. He was probably sitting on the couch watching TV, eating them out of house and home. Who did Davis think he was? She never asked for his help.

Davis leaned over so that the two of them were eye-to-eye. "Hey, you shouldn't bear this burden all on your own. Let us help you."

She'd told him the exact same thing in the café.

That was what Kari was doing, wasn't it? Trying to pull all the weight? Gatomon was her partner, her responsibility; so many times, Gatomon had saved Kari's life, but how many times had the responsibility fallen on Kari to save Gatomon? She had always wanted to, but she never could. Now Gatomon was missing and Kari was by herself, and Kari had no idea where to even start.

Out of the biggest surprises, this was the one she expected least.

"Should've seen Tai's expression when I showed up at the door carrying you, though," Davis said with a slight grin. "I'm sure it was everything you wanted it to be."

Kari allowed herself a smile.

She then nodded. "Okay. Just this once, I'll let you help me."

"Tai and TK wanted us to stay here so I could look after you, but..." He looked at the door, then back at her. "I won't tell them if you don't. Let's look for Gatomon, too. That's what _I _wanted to initially do, anyway."

He stretched out his hand to her.

Kari's eyes widened. Defy her brother's orders? She would never hear the end of it if he caught the two of them. And TK would be upset with her too, although he might be a bit more understanding than Tai. Tai had bad experiences of overworking Kari, because Kari hated to disappoint him.

Even though she could barely stand, she'd played soccer with him. She didn't want to see him sad, anything but that. The incident led to her hospitalization, and ever since then, he had never forgiven himself for what happened. Ever since then, she could rely on him to take care of her when she was sick, even when they were facing the Dark Masters.

But this time she was doing it for herself. She wasn't overworking her body in order to not disappoint anyone. Maybe it was selfish to do this against her brother's wishes, maybe it was selfish to get out of bed without the rest she so surely needed. Maybe it was irresponsible.

But that was _her_ choice. Not her brother's.

"Let's go," she said, finally taking Davis's hand in her own.

He grinned and nodded.

"Besides," he said, "You're going to go looking for her whether or not anyone's here. It's better that I'm with you than without anyone, right?"

Davis had a digimon to defend them. He also had a digimon who could digivolve into Lighdramon, which could cover a good portion of the city in a half-hour if they hurried. It really was better she agreed to allow Davis's aid; without it, it would take her hours to search for her partner... plus with her illness, she could hardly move, much less walk or run or jog. And what if Gatomon really was in trouble and they would have to fight to bail her out?

He was right. Whether or not he decided to help her, Kari would have left to search for Gatomon. Luckily, she also had someone willing to help her.

Davis left the room to allow Kari time to change. Her movements were heavy and slow due to the weighted feeling in her head. By the time they moved, it was approaching noon; once they got up on the rooftops though, they moved at a high frequency, bounding from place-to-place.

About a half-hour into the search, Davis called to Lighdramon, "Do you see her anywhere?"

"I think I've caught her scent," Lighdramon said as a wind passed around them. He looked in several directions. Kari smiled. "It's faint, though. I can see how Tai and TK might have missed it if they haven't taken to the air."

Kari briefly wondered if they had gotten any other Destined in on this. Ken might be at work. Yolei was probably helping her parents run the shop during her week off from school – it always got so busy around the holidays – and Cody might be practicing with his grandfather. If that was the case, he wouldn't be paying attention to his D3 or his cellphone. Surely at least one or two of them had gotten in on the search as well? Matt and Sora might be at work as well since they were trying to afford their flat. Joe was definitely at the hospital at this time, and Izzy was working in the Digital World with Gennai in order to improve communications between Earth and the Digital World. Mimi was in America.

That really just left the four of them, searching endlessly for one digimon in a city with hundreds of digimon. There were even a couple of Gatomon beyond just Kari's.

Which meant the trail Lighdramon caught could have easily been another Gatomon and not necessarily Kari's. Maybe that was what took Tai and TK so long to find Gatomon as well. Maybe the scents they caught had belonged to stray Gatomon and not _their_ Gatomon.

They landed hard on the ground in a back-alley. Kari shuffled around for a while, trying to keep her balance despite her woozy head. Glancing toward the two buildings the alley was squished between, she noticed one of them was very familiar.

"Davis," she whispered, tugging on his sleeve as he dismounted Lighdramon.

He blinked and looked in the direction she was pointing. There, they both realized it. It was the wedding gown shop.

The three hurriedly looked around. Kari lifted up the lid off garbage cans and Davis picked up littered cardboard boxes to see if she was asleep underneath one. They sifted through trash and slumbering digimon, until finally Lighdramon took in one long, drawn-out breath, and craned his neck toward one side of the alley.

Davis frowned at him. "What is it?"

"Can't be," Lighdramon said with a furrowed brow. "But... it's a _wall?_"

"What are you talking about?" said Kari.

"He's talking..." came a voice from an unknown location. Kari, Davis, and Lighdramon looked up at the sky, then toward the end of the alley, then toward the front. They peered around a couple dozen times looking for the source of the voice, but when they couldn't find it, the voice chuckled and continued, "...He's _talking_ about _this_."

A bright light shredded a third of the building wall across the wedding gown shop, revealing shawls keeping it hidden. Inside was a dark room barely lit by a simmering candlestick. At the center of the darkness was a figure no one quite recognized, with glowing, smiling eyes, its body silhouetted so they could not quite make out the figure's appearance. Kari could see ears. A tail. Gloves and claws.

She frowned. "Gatomon...?"

"Gatomon?" the figure chuckled. "I am no Gatomon, silly girl. _I_... am BETSUMON!"

And the figure stretched out his arms, beams of white light shooting out of his palms. They ripped through the brick structure of the shop and sent part of the roof caving in. Luckily, most of the roof had survived. But Babamon would have surely heard the collision, would she investigate? Had she any idea this digimon was hiding across the building, even if he'd remained disguised?

Through the debris, three cages skyrocketed out of the dank room and levitated in the air above the digimon, whose appearance was finally revealed by the cracks of sunlight shining through the collapsed wall.

Kari held her mouth to stop herself from gagging. He looked atrocious. She didn't think she could ever forget such an appearance.

Sure, he _looked_ like Gatomon. A _little_. He wore what looked like a Gatomon _costume_, with a hood bearing purple-tipped ears and striped gloves that bore claws. The costume even had a tail with a fake tailring glistening against the sunlight. His belly-button protruded awkwardly out of his stomach, right above an exaggerated crotch that obviously showcased his junk. The digimon's face was painted white with three black whiskers on each cheek, and a little pink blush to boot. Perhaps the most particular part about him, however, was his Cheshire-cat grin, with his teeth clenched, his eyes half-lidded.

He grinned. "As an ultimate, you can never defeat me! I will capture you, just like I captured them! The third cage awaits you, Kari Kamiya!"

There, in two of the three cages, Kari could see one human and one digimon. The human was a girl with dark hair and big almond-shaped eyes. She was pretty, but her cheeks were tearstained and her eyes were webbed by veins, her hands gripping the metal bars.

Davis stepped next to Kari, paling. "Keiko!"

"What's she doing in there?" Kari asked him. "I thought she was with you last night."

"I... I thought she was there, too..."

"Of course you thought she was!" Betsumon threw his head back in a cackle. "I had to distract you _somehow_, so I could get Kari by herself. I've been studying her for quite a while. It's no surprise she would wander off to give you some privacy. Or should I say... wander off to lick her wounds, her injured pride!"

Kari glared at him. "Are you saying I...?"

"Yes, I am!"

Kari looked at Davis, who gave her a clueless blink. Her face turned beet-red and she glared at Betsumon.

"Bah! Like I could ever! You... ugh... how could you even _think_... I mean, _Davis_...? You... You... _**Jerk**_!"

"Davis!" Keiko shouted, still gripping the bars, tears building again behind her eyes.

Davis's expression darkened. "What did you do to Keiko?"

Kari glanced over at him when he spoke. His voice had lowered to a growl, his eyebrows knitted together with a dragon-like glare. It gave Kari the shivers. Keiko was obviously very important to him...

"I did nothing. Ew. Don't you understand, you stupid boy?" Betsumon barked with laughter.

When Davis reiterated his clueless blink, Betsumon's barks turned into howls of laughter. "You weren't talking to Keiko...

"You were talking to ME!"

Betsumon ripped off his zipper, revealing clothes identical to the ones Keiko wore last night. He pulled down his hood, allowing dark tassels of hair to flow to his shoulders. Batting his eyelashes, they transformed their shape right into the almond-shape of Keiko's gaze. He puckered his lips and smooched the air in Davis's direction.

"That's right, baby... You got ROBBED!"

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Chapter 3: Shit Just Got Real

**Genre:** Romance/Humor/Friendship/Drama

**Theme Songs:** "Wedding Dress" by Matt Nathanson, "Where I Stood" by Missy Higgins

**Author's Note:** Coming on today and seeing all the positive reviews for this fic made me feel so incredibly happy. Thank you all so much! You have no idea what it means to me. This last summer, I joined the "Dead Parents Club" when my father passed away. It's been a very hard year for me and my family, and writing is one of the few ways I can both escape the pain and express it at the same time. So to see all these great reviews, and seeing people enjoying the story enough to fav it and follow it, seriously almost made me cry from the happiness! It just means a lot at this time in my life. I don't mean to be so overdramatic, but ahhh, give me a hug! Group hug! -HUG- Thank you all so, so, SO much, a random fan, Guest, Digidestined Ninja Of Sunshine, The Keeper of Worlds, endlessfun, YuYuDigiMoon Fan, and foolzgold, and all the others who are reading behind the screens!

**Wedding Gowns**

**Chapter 3**

Davis's jaw dropped. Keiko actually blushed in her floating cage.

Her flush quickly shifted into an acidic glare. "You believed he was me?!" she screeched, rattling the bars. "Davis, you idiot! How could you think a Digimon with an obvious banana hammock was me?!"

"He... He didn't have a banana hammock down there! He looked identical to you!" Davis shouted back at her.

"OH THAT JUST MAKES ME FEEL SO MUCH BETTER."

"Okay, I'm not an idiot! He tricked me! How the hell did he pull that off?!"

"That is the strength of an ultimate-level puppet digimon," Betsumon cackled. "Suckled all her memories, sewed my costume of her, painted my pretty face..."

"I..." Davis suddenly turned very, very red. Even redder than Keiko had been.

Then Kari realized something. She, too, went a deep shade of red. "Oh, Davis, you didn't..."

"Well, _she_ did, I didn't stop her..." Davis suddenly grabbed his mouth. "I'mma be sick."

And rest assured, he twisted around and up-chucked all over the alley floor behind them.

_Well I'm glad I decided not to stick around last night,_ Kari thought uneasily. Then, with a grin, she continued, _But I am never going to let him live this down._

"I mean," Davis yaked. "The only thing worse would be kissing TK!"

"I'd like to see that," Kari said.

"You would!" he barked, going green again.

"Oh come on, just imagine he's Ken... Or Tai..."

"_Stop talking to Jun_!"

Before Kari could respond – the sickly green in Davis's face turning to a furious blush – Betsumon let out a long sigh. "My plan didn't work out as I'd hoped, however. You caught up with Kari at my alley before I could snag her."

"That's the thing about you evil digimon," Davis grunted, holding his stomach. He still looked a tinge green. "You should have killed me then. I didn't have a digimon with me, neither did Kari. It would have been easier than taking candy from an in-training digimon! You never actually kill anybody no matter how big you talk. I spoiled your plans, just like I'll spoil them again!"

"_Davis,_ shut-up," Kari whispered, half-heartedly glaring at him. "Don't give the bad guys good ideas..."

"Kill you? But... I love you!" Betsumon said. "I'm _in_ love with you... I did all of this for you, Davis!"

Davis fell silent. Kari blushed. "You..." The beet-red turned stark white.

"Davis, just how _active_ have you been while I was away?" Kari demanded, having troubles holding back her giggles. "You whore."

Davis glared.

Betsumon then burst into laughter. "Oh... oh my God, your faces! Oh my God! I'm so out of your league!"

Davis turned his glare toward Betsumon. "Shut-up!" Then he paused. "I'm SUPER attractive! I'm like... Channing Tatum attractive!"

Keiko and Kari made eye-contact, then busted out laughing.

Davis's blush deepened. "You... shut-up... uggghhhh... You guys suck!"

"Hahahahahahahaah!"

Betsumon let out a purring grin. "Why ever would I kill you? I can still use you."

"Use me for what?"

Betsumon held his hands skyward. "I want money!"

"Hey, you and me both, buster," Kari said, putting her hands on her hips. "You don't have to pay for college."

Betsumon was shrieking with laughter. "I want lots and lots and lots of money!" His eyes glazed over, his fingers clenching in the air, reaching for something he could not touch. His crotch thrust through the air with excitement. "I want to buy more and more costumes!" he said.

_Oh Jesus. Is he humping?_

"_That's_ why you're putting us through this?" Kari asked softly. "For costumes?"

"Yes! Why? No one understands my love! I need to buy more and more materials to sew my _own_ costumes! Soon, I will have enough money to make an _Omegamon_ costume, and then the world shall tremble at my feet, the fools! And once and for all, I will have the power to summon Destined to do my bidding!"

Davis leaned toward Lighdramon and Kari. "I like it when villains lay out their entire plan."

Kari and Lighdramon nodded.

"I can have it all. Money, glory, power, costumes..." Betsumon said, cocking his crotch in the other direction. Flames developed around his body, filaments unfurling toward the sky, as strobe lights flashed from his palms. "And then the world will be MINE!"

Silence.

_This guy is kind of amusing,_ Kari thought.

"Please," Kari said. "Do go on."

"That's all," Betsumon said politely, the fire dying instantaneously and his hands fisting at his sides.

"You can't do this." Kari cocked an eyebrow. "You know the song... _You can't— always get what you wa~ant~"_

"Don't tell me what I can and can't want," the puppetmaster said. "I want a lot of things I shouldn't. Like finally being free..."

He was interrupted by a string of high-pitched laughter. At first, Kari didn't know where it came from, until she saw Keiko holding her stomach to keep from falling over. "You? Free?" She laughed and laughed and laughed. "You are going away for a long, long time. And we are going to throw away the key."

"I'll make one!"

Keiko sweat-dropped. "How are you going to make one in a jail cell?"

"That's what prison bitches are for."

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, Betsumon," said Kari. "But I won't let you take anyone else hostage. Now, where are you keeping my partner?!"

And that was when she heard a rattle from the cage next to Keiko. Gatomon's tail rolled out between the bars, catching Kari's eye.

No.

He'd been keeping Gatomon in a _cage_? Even when she was under Vamdemon's thumb... even when he had found where her true allegiance lied... he still hadn't locked her up. That was a trauma she never had to suffer, at least one in a million that she could have.

Kari felt her hands clench, digging into her palms.

"You _bastard_," she snarled at Betsumon.

Gatomon stirred, her eyes fluttering open. As soon as she registered her surroundings, the feline popped up to her feet and looked around with astonishment. "Where am I? Kari? Kari!"

Kari tried to run to her. "Gatomon! Gatomon, I'm here! I'll save you!"

"No, Kari, wait!" Davis grabbed her around her waist and jerked her back.

"Let go of me! I need to save her!"

"You can't just run in there, Betsumon will get you!" he cried.

"Kari!" Gatomon called out, reaching between the bars, even though she knew she was too far up to touch her partner. Even though the world seemed to separate them, Kari, too, reached out for her.

Kari shouted, "Did he hurt you?!"

"He... He..." Gatomon's eyes filled with hatred. "He made me listen to _Abba_."

Kari instantly stopped fighting against Davis. Her own expression darkened. Then, slowly turning toward her partner-in-crime, Kari spoke to Davis in a very low, very dangerous voice. "Davis, put Betsumon through _Hell_."

"HAH. Impossible. I am the GREAT Betsumon!"

"The only great thing about you is your great big crotch!" Kari snarled back at him, spinning on her heel. She pointed her forefinger at him. "You are the scum of the world! You are the reason why people still hesitate on welcoming the digimon! You are the rot, the disgusting, you are everything that is wrong with the world! Digimon use humans to fight their battles, and humans use digimon to win their wars, and you ride the waves thinking it isn't your responsibility to maintain peace, to halt all of that terrible stuff from happening! It's because of digimon like you, because of _people _like you, that something will always be wrong with our worlds!

"I've sat back and let other people fight for me for a long time, but I won't let you do this to Gatomon and me! I will save Keiko, and I will save my partner, and I will stop you! Lighdramon!"

Both Kari and Davis hopped on Lighdramon's back, Kari riding front and Davis riding back. Lighdramon bucked up, rearing his front legs, and bolted into the sky. There, he built a beam of crackling blue energy and cried out, "BLUE THUNDER."

A triangle of energy snapped over the three horns on his back. Then, popping, the beam sheered the air and catapulted in Betsumon's direction. Betsumon shrieked and held his arms in front of his face. Kari grit her teeth, waiting for the smoking impact to billow around them.

Lighdramon's attack exploded as it collided with Betsumon. Kari and Davis waited with bated breath as the smoke cleared.

At first, they saw a dark shape in the center of the smoke cloud. Then, as the brown mist cleared, they realized he was still there, still uninjured. His costume was smoking, and parts of it – like his ears and his tail – were scorched and charred, but he still remained mostly undamaged.

"No," Davis whispered, clutching Lighdramon's back.

Kari bit her bottom lip. Glancing in Gatomon's direction, she pointed her D-3 at her partner and said, "DigiArmor energize!" Gatomon smiled, waiting to feel the energy wash over her, but when nothing happened, she frowned at her partner. The bars of the cage then glowed with a golden light, knocking her back.

"It's the cage!" Gatomon shouted.

"Where's Izzy when you need him?" Davis grumbled.

"Zzzzzzooooo..." Betsumon began, energy crackling along his gloves.

"Zoo?" Davis blinked.

"Zzzzzooooo..." He jerked out his hands, the energy building and popping and cracking. "Tsuuuu... kooooh... meee... PUNCH!"

Like a flash of lightning, Betsumon appeared behind Lighdramon and punched him upside the head. Lighdramon flung through the air, nearly toppling Davis and Kari off his back, his body flipping and flopping and tossing. Lighdramon winced, trying to get a hold of his balance, but Betsumon called out another attack and appeared behind the flipping digimon once again, punching him in the stomach so he instead flipped in the other direction.

Betsumon then said, "You think you, a silly little armor, can defeat an ultimate digimon?! I never thought I would be the straight man in a comedy, but compared to me you are nothing but a funny man!"

"Davis, can Lighdramon go to Gatomon's cage?" Kari whispered in Davis's hear.

Her breath tickled along his earlobe. He cleared his throat.

"Can I and will I are two very different concepts," Lighdramon remarked.

"The cage is blocking Gatomon from digivolving," Kari said. "But if Gatomon can't destroy the cage from the inside, it just means we will have to destroy it from the outside."

Davis nodded. He then clasped her hand tightly in his. She blinked and looked at him curiously, and he smiled softly at her. "Be careful, Kamiya."

She smiled back. "I'd say the same, but you're the one with the hard head so I'm sure you'll do fine."

Davis almost laughed. Almost. "Lighdramon!" he called, turning his attention away from Kari. "Let's fry 'em!"

"It's electrifying!"

_Did Lighdramon just make a Grease reference?_ Kari held back a grin. _When did Lighdramon see Grease?_ She imagined Davis and DemiVeemon, decked out in pajamas, watching _Grease_ while popping popcorn and spooning ice-cream out of a bucket...

Lighdramon headed directly for the cages. Betsumon howled in his direction, throwing another punch. Lighdramon was expecting it this time though and dodged, then jolted back up and sent a bright blue lightning attack barreling in the cage's direction. Gatomon ducked and grabbed her head, her tail tucking in-between her legs. The lightning struck the metal bars and split them wide open— and not only Gatomon's cage, but also Keiko's.

Gatomon grinned in the three's direction. "Gee, for a moment there I thought you were gonna' kill me!"

Lighdramon blushed. "I could never..."

"Gatomon, digivolve!" Kari called out.

"Right." Gatomon nodded and began glowing a bright pink. "GATOMON DIGIVOLVE TO..."

"I won't let you!" Betsumon screamed, attempting to punch the pink-glowing feline.

But Keiko would have none of it. "You'll have to get through _me_ first!" she cried out. She then threw herself from the cage and landed on Betsumon's shoulders, kicking and screaming and clawing at his face. He screeched, trying to elbow her off of him, but she wouldn't loose her grip.

By the time Betsumon flung Keiko off his back, it was already too late.

"...ANGEWOMON!"

Keiko descended down, down, down toward the ground, her hair flailing around her, her hand reaching toward the sky. Tears were in her eyes, but she was smiling. If there was ever one thing she did right...

"KEIKO!" Davis screamed.

Just then, she was swept up in a gale of white feathers and the embrace of an angel. Angewomon had saved her...

As Angewomon placed Keiko safely on the ground, Davis rushed to Keiko's side, embracing her in his strong arms as she gulped down her tears. Kari hesitated, the only one still sitting on Lighdramon. Without his warmth behind her, she felt so cold...

"Davis," Keiko whispered, burying her face in Davis's chest. His expression softened as he tightened his arms around her. "Okay, maybe I can forgive you for mistaking a costume-wearing, crotch-thrusting male digimon as me..."

"So who's the better kisser?" Kari asked Davis, nodding between Keiko and Betsumon.

Davis glared at both of them.

"Like I really want to know anyway," Kari purred. Davis glared more severely. "Oh come on. Nothing? Party-pooper."

Angewomon turned to Betsumon. "You will pay for what you did to Keiko, what you did to me," Angewomon said, her voice crackling against her rage. Betsumon actually shuddered. "You don't _deserve _to wear Gatomon's image! I look way better in it! CELESTIAL ARROW!"

The white beam of light struck true. Betsumon flipped through the air and plunged through several walls. Babamon finally surfaced from the debris and looked around expectantly, watching as Betsumon struggled to find the strength to stand again. He ripped off chunks of wreckage from his damaged body, coughing, hacking, holding his gutted chest where AngeWomon's attack plummeted through him.

He stumbled on the alley floor in the direction of Kari, Davis, and Lighdramon, who had landed safely on the ground.

He reached out for Kari, his face wrinkled in a venomous snarl. "You... weak... bastard little things... how could you beat me...?"

"We're the Destined," Kari replied, grinning.

Betsumon fell to his knees. "All I wanted... was respect..."

"Kidnapping people and holding them for ransom isn't a great way of getting that," Kari replied.

Tears filled Betsumon's eyes. "I won't die like this," he whispered, clutching at the air. "I don't want to die." He glared at Davis. "AngeWomon may have purified me, but you will regret it... knowing my true identity...!"

A bright white light covered him. Kari and Davis shielded their eyes from the expulsion of colorless beams.

"Davis!" Kari called, reaching out for him. He called her name, stretching out his hand and clasping hers. His hand was warm, but she hardly had time to think about it before he pulled her into him, hiding her in his arms from the explosions that rippled all around them. Keiko stared wide-eyed at the sight, unable to comprehend the destruction netting through the debris.

_Betsumon isn't deleting,_ Kari thought, stunned. _AngeWomon purified him!_

What emerged from the white light was not Betsumon.

It was a girl.

"Wait..." Kari said, her brow furrowing. "But Betsumon... I mean, his junk... obviously... I'm... Gatomon, for the life of me I have no idea how digimon anatomy works!"

Angewomon shrugged. "Don't ask me. When was the last time _you_ got a 100% on _your _anatomy test scores?"

"...Good point." Kari paused, then squinted at her. "You sound like my mother."

Angewomon squinted back. "Wise woman."

Betsumon – or at least the girl who had once been Betsumon – stepped from the light and walked in their direction, softly and slowly, hair falling around his – her? – face. Davis finally looked up from Kari and peered into the eyes of the creature before them.

Davis stood speechless, gawking. Memories splayed across his mind in rhythm with his heart, each beat playing a different image of the girl he'd known for so long, a girl he never thought he'd see again.

It was a pretty girl. She looked human. She had blushing cheeks and a sweet smile, her hands folded in front of her.

"Remember when I said I loved you?" she began. "I'm still out of your league."

Davis hesitated.

"I finally found you..." the girl whispered. "I looked and I looked, but we were never in the right place at the right time together... I couldn't properly explain it before... the virus wouldn't let me. But now Angewomon has given it back to me, my voice..."

"Nat," Davis whispered.

Kari's eyes widened. Nat, the digimon Davis had fallen for when he was staying with Mimi and Willis in New York?

Davis released Kari, stepping in the girl's direction. No. How could that be? That digimon died... Davis had given her a new home with another partner... so if she had another partner, what was she doing here, in Odaiba? Had she come all this way to see Davis again? Never being able to forget him— even when Davis was a young boy, he'd still made an impression on an equally young girl.

Kari couldn't believe it. She was so shocked she barely had time to register the fact that he was still walking after her.

"Davis?" Keiko grabbed his hand to stop him, but he said nothing, the shock still settling in.

"I can't believe it's you..." he whispered, voice crinkling as he stared into the girl's eyes. It was an intense kind of stare, the kind Kari didn't often see come from a guy like Davis. Brave, strong, a jock-ish, cocky kind of guy with massive dorky tendencies— but underlying all his brute strength, there was a passion inside of him. Kari didn't know why that surprised her so much. A guy with the DigiEgg of Courage would have to be passionate— intense... He half-smiled, but it was wan, as though he weren't sure it should be a smile or a frown. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? If I'd known..." He frowned, reaching up to touch his lips. He then shook his head. "I wanted to save you. I tried..."

"I know," she replied, her hair swaying in the wind, eyes glazed with tears. "I wish you had. But you couldn't. No one could have. It was impossible..."

"I just saw a Betsumon turn into a beautiful girl. Nothing is impossible," Davis said, voice cutting through her negativity. But she only shook her head to stop him.

"My data got corrupted again, Davis," Nat whispered. "He will never let me just be who I want to be," she said, "He will never leave me. He killed my partner. He wants to kill you. Please... please, Davis, help me. The corruption wants to take me again. No matter how many times I'm purified, he will always find me!"

"Who?" Davis asked, his expression hardening. "We'll stop him, together!"

Nat... Sweet, jealous Nat, who just wanted to find her human partner. For a long time, she thought this partner was Davis, but soon she realized he wasn't. By the time she did, it was too late. She was corrupted by unknown forces and now stood here, still searching, still being used for an unknown purpose.

Kari supposed it made sense, in a way— that the corrupted form of Nat would pretend to be Davis's latest girlfriend in order to trick him, to make him angry with her, or confused. If Nat was really that into Davis, Kari could, in a way, understand, even if she didn't agree with the execution of her jealousy.

This was the real reason why Betsumon had captured all those humans and digimon? If Betsumon was the corrupted form of Nat... Before, Davis mentioned that digimon and their partners had been going missing lately. But why in Odaiba? Why not New York, where Davis first met Nat?

_She came for him,_ Kari realized. _All of this... Why he chose me of all people to target, why he chose Davis's ex-girlfriend before me. It's our connection to Davis. That's why Betsumon didn't just kill Davis in the alleyway when I collapsed. It wasn't for material, it wasn't because he could use me. Maybe on the surface, that's what a corrupted Betsumon wanted— but inside of him, there was a young girl who just wanted Davis's attention and was using us to get it. He just wanted love. Betsumon wasn't kidding... Betsumon really was in love. Hiding it because of fear of rejection._

Kari could understanding that, hiding love for someone, fearing their reaction.

She looked at Davis, standing there in shock at the revelation. It made her wonder what he really thought, beyond the surface, of Kari. He seemed to be over her. But was he really just afraid? After Nat... he said he was always afraid.

But even then, none of this really made sense. Nat's partner was dead, or so she said.

"Whoever it is that did this to you," Kari said, "We'll stop him, Nat."

Davis looked at her when she said this. The two then smiled and nodded at each other, confident that they could save Nat, for good.

"You can't stop him," Nat replied. Her face darkened, the data swarming around her flesh blackening. "He was sleeping in the darkest recesses of the Digital World, but a taste of light has awakened him. And he will never stop until she is in his hands." Nat pointed to Kari. "The ocean water is filled with blood, Kari Kamiya. And it wants its blood fresh. Children were marked in this world, and he will have their blood to fill his dark ocean."

No. No, no, no, no.

"Nat, what are you talking about?" Davis asked, his confidence waning.

"Davis heard my voice all those years ago in New York," Nat said, as the heat overtook Kari all over again. Her knees wobbled underneath her. "I never knew why it was only him who could hear me. But now I know. It was because of you." Kari couldn't be hearing this. She didn't want to. She escaped that dark place, many, many years ago... "All Destined are inter-connected... destinies woven together... and because he was the closest of those three to you, the one who was thinking of you most, he was the one who was lured by my voice. He heard me, because my master gave me your voice. He modeled everything I am after you." Seeing the dawning expression on Kari's face, Nat went on, "I didn't come for Davis. I came for you. I was always a trap for you. You are the one I have been searching for all these years. It's you. It's always been about you. My master wants _you_!"

Master...

Kari clenched her temples, choking back a sob. The world began blurring together. This couldn't be true. The Dark Ocean had come for her again, and this time, they'd gone though Davis to do it.

_**CRRAAASH**_

As data flew all around them, it was disturbed by a rip in time and space. Lightning slashed the air behind Nat, torrential winds blaring in every direction.

"Run," Nat warned. "I will never be free from him, and as long as he watches, you will never survive! Run!"

"No..." Kari slowly shook her head as the realization hit her. Nat, all this time, was corrupted by the same person who tried to corrupt Kari. Nat had been tied to the same dark creature lurking in the depths of the Dark Ocean... "NO!"

A clawed hand made of shadow reached through the darkness and plunged straight in-between Nat's shoulders.

"NAT!" Davis shrieked.

Tears rolled down and down Nat's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry, Davis." As the darkness consumed her, Nat whispered, "I want to be reborn and reformatted... next time, I'll be stronger... and maybe you and I will finally be happy together, right? Right...?"

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Davis cried. "It can't end this way. You can't do this to me, not again! Please, Nat! Don't go! Don't leave me!"

"It's okay to trust, Davis..." Her data was rising and rising to the sky, fluttering like blue fireflies, ascending and flying and soaring, free... "Don't cry, I'll be happy again some day. Please, be happy, too. Don't be afraid. Don't close people out. Just be yourself... Be your wonderful, beautiful self..."

"Nat..."

Her data darkened.

Her expression began to shift, to frown.

Davis's eyes widened again. "Nat...?"

"I can't stop it from happening again, Davis," She cried out, holding what little was left of her chest as her data swarmed around her. "I will never forget your kindness! Even as Betsumon... I will never forget..." She shook her head, trying to stop it, knowing she'd fail against the darkness— "I... won't... let him... I will fight every moment I can to expose his evil! I WON'T LET HIM DO THIS TO DAVIS!"

And her skin broke open. White light poured out, spilling over her pale skin, bubbling from her eyes and her nose and her ears. Her flesh burned until it was a ghostly white, her hair forming a mane of white cloth that turned to material. Betsumon emerged from the white light, his claws clutched in Davis's hands, his eyes angry and fierce and uncontrollable.

Betsumon's rebirth in Nat's body erupted in brilliant fireballs of energy that hurled in every direction.

"Not in MY district!" Babamon called, twirling her broom in her hand and standing in front of Davis, Kari, Angewomon, Lighdramon, and Keiko. As the fire struck the broom, it reflected off of her, instead heading back in Betsumon's direction.

"You cannot stop me!" Betsumon howled with laughter, still consumed by the fire that corrupted Nat. "NAT... CANNOT STOP ME!" He thrusted his crotch toward them. "I AM BETSUMON, THE BEST DAMN COMEDIAN THERE EVER WAS!"

"You don't sound comical to me!" Kari hissed. "Boo, boo, bring Nat back! We want Nat!"

Fire spewed forth everywhere, igniting buildings, unearthing a tunnel beneath the wedding shop. They saw a chamber lined with gold-glowing cages, inhabited by humans and digimon alike. Some were unconscious, others were screaming.

This was Betsumon's crypt, filled with the missing Destined and their partners...

_Well, maybe Betsumon would have more money if he wasn't spending it on gold cages,_ Kari thought with a raised eyebrow. A part of her thought about chipping off the bars and using it to fund her university experience... But at the same time, the gold seemed more mystical, like a sort of enchantment so that none of them could escape their entrapment.

Boys, girls, digimon, crying... There was only one thing they all had in common however, besides being Destined.

Kari recognized all of them.

They were all Dark Spore Children.

Betsumon's deep voice rumbled with a low chuckle. "Very smart, Nat. Expose my plan. But I won't let you ruin anything else. The best part of a show is the twist at the end!"

"Noriko?" Keiko's voice broke as the girl slowly opened her eyes from within her own cage.

"Keiko..." Noriko whispered back. Suddenly, it hit her that she wasn't home and she sat up, looking around. "Where the hell...? HEY, YOU!" She pointed at Betsumon. "I was in the middle of a DATE, you jerk! Bring me back! NOW!"

"Yeah!" said her partner Punimon in the cage next to hers.

"What is all of this?" Kari asked, looking at Betsumon with tears in her eyes. "Why is the Dark Ocean gathering all of the Dark Spore children?"

"Please, Nat!" Davis begged. "Stop all of this!"

"Nat's not home right now," Betsumon said. "She's with the junk in my trunk! BAHAHAHAHA!"

Angewomon was shaking in anger. She'd purified Betsumon, but it was for nothing— the Dark Ocean had too great a hold on Nat's emotions. It was drawn to her darkness, her loneliness... just as Matt and Sora's own inner darkness had also attracted its evil.

Wait...

No...

Before Angewomon could say anything, Betsumon gave a grin like that of a Cheshire Cat. "That Nat... Had to go and ruin all this kitty's fun, eh?" The concrete beneath their feet shuddered. The fire cracked it wide open, spilling light like the yoke of an egg. What it revealed below were four crosses, emanating with a blue, red, green, and pink light.

Yolei, Ken, Sora, and Matt were hanging on the crosses, their partners nowhere in sight.

"No," Kari said, astonished.

Davis slowly shook his head. "Oh, Nat... What have you done?"

"Given us an opportunity," Kari said, her expression hardening.

"Davis...?" Ken said blearily as he looked up from his cross.

A second later, Sora heard his grumble and tiredly saw Kari from the corner of her eye. "Kari..." she whispered, then her strength gave out and she bowed her head. The ropes twisting around their limbs pulsated like a vein pumping blood, but instead of blood, it was energy— it was stealing their very energy!

"Lighdramon, let's finish this," Angewomon said in a low, guttural voice. Lighdramon nodded. "HEAVEN'S CHARM!"

"BLUE THUNDER!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Betsumon screeched, clawing at the two, but he was too late— their attacks collided with their intended targets, right in the heart of Betsumon's plans.

The attacks exploded cages trapping the Dark Spore children and their partners, ending with the crosses bearing Yolei, Ken, Matt, and Sora. The cages each sparked before being blown to bits, releasing their captors.

Instantly, the two digimon flew through the air to catch Sora, Ken, Yolei, and Matt, who groggily moaned and shook their heads. Davis and Kari scrambled to help them, kneeling to check their wounds. None of them were bleeding or terribly injured, mostly just tired. Hopefully their energy would be restored to them in time.

Even if the trauma of this incident took longer than any physical wound would to heal...

"What happened?" Matt asked in a groggy voice. "I just remember walking and then... bam... nothing."

"Wellll," Kari began, taking a deep breath, "So first Davis's unrequited love shows up and they talk about his ex-girlfriend who broke his heart then his ex-girlfriend shows up and they fight then they kiss, but it turns out his ex-girlfriend is actually a costume-wearing crotch-thrusting Chip-n-Dalemon who is actually another older ex-girlfriend from his past who died while trying to kill him, and now his older ex-girlfriend is back to kill his unrequited love AND his ex-girlfriend because his killer older ex-girlfriend who is actually a costume-wearing crotch-thrusting Chip-n-Dalemon is actually a pawn of the one person in this story who isn't a love interest of Davis, the Master of the Dark Ocean..."

"O...kay..." Matt rubbed his neck. "That's rough, bro."

"Uhh..." Davis sweat-dropped, the corner of his eye twitching. "I'm _right here,_ Kari... I can _hear you_..."

"WHAT?" Yolei screamed. "WHAT, WHAT, WHAT?!"

"No, no, no..." Betsumon gripped his temples, sliding down the wall of some wreckage as he rocked back-and-forth. "Master will not be happy... and I'm not a Chip-n-Dalemon... and his sacrifices have gone free... I have failed him... I..."

"Screw him," Davis said, offering Betsumon his hand. "Join us, Betsumon. We'll protect you from your master. The boy of friendship would make a better partner anyway." He glanced at Matt. "Both boys."

"Davis, did your IQ just drop while we were broken up?!" Keiko snarled. "Do you have any idea what that guy just did to my friends? To YOUR friends? ...Including your _best_ friend." She nodded toward Ken, who tiredly rubbed at his head and asked for Wormmon.

"It isn't Nat's fault," Davis replied, frowning at Keiko. "The Dark Ocean corrupted her, Keiko. I don't want to punish her for something she couldn't even control. That'd be like blaming you and the other Dark Spore children for being infected by BelialVamdemon."

Keiko bowed her head. "You're right. I'm sorry, Davis. I know you're insecure about your intelligence. I should have never said that. But... I don't think everyone will just be okily-dokily-neighborino with the guy who just locked them up. It's going to take them time. You can't just invite the guy who did this to them right back into their lives..."

Davis frowned. He then hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. "I invited you into my life and we did just fine," Davis whispered. "It might take time, but I believe in Nat. I believe she can change Betsumon for the better. Everyone deserves a second chance. Betsumon hasn't killed anyone. Everything he's done has been out of fear..."

Keiko bowed her head, leaning into his touch.

Kari watched them with a morbid sense of curiosity. This was Davis's latest girlfriend, the one who crushed him. Something about the way Davis looked at her made Kari feel something she hadn't ever really felt before, at least when it came to Davis. Was it jealousy? No, that'd be stupid. They're stuck in this incredibly dangerous situation, with kidnapped friends and digimon, all supposed to be sacrificed to the digimon who abducted Kari all those years ago... There was no way she could be jealous at a time like this.

And besides, jealous of _Davis's_ girlfriend? This was Davis. If she wanted to be with Davis, she could've been with him years ago. She always knew he had feelings for her. All she had to do was smile at him and he'd be putty in her hands. There was no way she could fall for him. They were too different. He was too melodramatic about his feelings. He was melodramatic about _everything._ And so cocky, and possessive, and...

"_But when it comes to the bigger hurts, you never vent to anyone about it. You always carry it around on your own," _Kari had said not long ago in that cafe.

"_So what you're saying is," _Davis interrupted_, "I'm like you."_

Maybe they weren't that different after all.

It took Kari so long to see it, but there it was. Davis and Kari were different in many ways, yeah— but they understood each other better than maybe anyone else could.

It reminded Kari of Matt and Sora in a way, how they could be so incredibly different, but the experiences they shared – their darkest, most vulnerable moments – created a bond no one else could truly understand like the other could. Kari and Davis were the same. He might have never had to endure the Dark Ocean like Kari, but how they dealt with the pains in their lives was exactly the same.

"Davis..." she whispered, then shook her head and turned to Betsumon. "Your master wants to sacrifice those who have been touched by the Dark World, doesn't he? Why?"

"So that... he can come here..." Betsumon whispered, looking up at her. "And find his partner." Before Kari could question this, Betsumon let out a warbly, high-pitched giggle. "He needs all of the Dark Children. But maybe the Child of Light will do. Then I will be free... free to sew... and pretend like I'm not Betsumon... and be someone else, someone who has a partner... I won't join the Destined," Betsumon said, rising from his spot. "I WILL FINISH THE JOB!"

He lunged at Kari, claws cocked to strike, fangs bared in a snarl.

"Angewomon!" Kari called, but it was too late.

_**SQUISH**_

The claws plunged deep inside flesh, splattering Kari's face with blood and dotting the road. Kari stood, stunned, as she realized Betsumon's claws hadn't cut into _her..._ No, instead they sunk inside the person who stood in front of her.

Betsumon's claws pierced Davis's ribcage, who buckled against the pressure.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4: Here's to The End

**Genre:** Romance/Humor/Drama/Friendship

**Theme Songs:** "Wedding Dress" by Matt Nathanson, "Don't Make Me Wait" by This World Fair, and "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

**Author's Note:** We've finally reached the climactic final chapter of _Wedding Gowns!_ It's been a very fun story, I've very much enjoyed writing and posting it. Thank you all for sticking through it and for liking it. I'd like to especially thank The Keeper of Worlds, endlessfun, Digidestined Ninja of Sunshine, M306117, and ARCtheElite for their continued support and for reviewing, faving, and/or following the story! Thank you all for the silent readers, future commenters, and for everyone who enjoyed the story! You don't know how much it means to me. Thank you all so much!

**Wedding Gowns**

**Chapter 4**

"It's all fun and games until someone gets locked in a cage, or stabbed in the heartcage," Betsumon said, blood dotting his face as he stared deep into Davis's eyes.

"DAVIS!" screamed Lighdramon, dropping Yolei and Ken to the ground as he ran in Davis's direction. Kari's eyes widened, pupils shrinking, as Betsumon – his own expression suddenly mirroring Kari's – jerked his claws out of Davis, stunned. Davis stumbled, sighing, then collapsed in Kari's arms.

"Davis," Kari whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Davis smiled warmly at her, reaching up to brush back a bang of hair from her eye. "What can I say? The 11-year-old in me thought it'd be cool," he said.

Kari sadly smiled back. "Pretty suave, Motomiya."

"Promise?"

"I wouldn't lie to you," she whispered back, kissing his forehead. He looked stunned for a second, then the shock faded to an intense stare, as his hand reached up to brush her face.

"It'll be okay, Davis," Kari said. "Keiko..." She looked up at the girl who stood pale and shocked, tears filling her own eyes. Two women, both a part of Davis's history, staring into each other's eyes and the man they care about dying on the ground... Not far off, Nat was inside of Betsumon's soul, silently crying for her kind, warm boy who was friendly to her in a lonely world that wouldn't listen. "Pressure this pimp's wound. I'll take care of Betsumon. Besides..." The smile faded as she transferred Davis to the girl. "I'm sure he'd prefer you right now."

Keiko nodded, holding Davis's head in her lap as she removed her hoodie and used it to staunch the blood flow. Kari then stepped in Betsumon's direction, Lighdramon not far behind her.

"Davis..." Betsumon whispered. "Davis... I... no... No, this isn't what I wanted," Betsumon whispered, cradling his head in his hands. "This isn't how it was supposed to be! This is YOUR fault!" Betsumon screamed at Kari. "If you hadn't hurt him! If you hadn't rejected him, I never would have met him! I never would have known your location! I could have been left to rot! Instead I..." Betsumon sunk to his knees. "This isn't me. This isn't happening. I just wanted to be free. I just wanted someone to like me..."

"It's not over yet, Betsumon," Kari said softly. Lighdramon and Angewomon stood behind her, watching. Waiting.

"Stop this nonsense, Nat," Lighdramon whispered. "We can still save Davis. It isn't too late."

"We can free you," Angewomon added.

"No." Betsumon looked up at them. His gaze connected with Kari's, poring into hers. She saw flashes of herself in those eyes, of a person who couldn't escape the darkness no matter how hard they tried. "I'm dangerous. I can never run from my master. And neither can you."

Betsumon lurched. His claws extended, splayed to strike Kari down. Angewomon and Lighdramon readied to stop him, but Kari shouted, "No!" and they stopped— just in time to see Betsumon's claws halt mere centimeters from Kari's face.

Kari could feel the breath hitch in her lungs. _Thank God I was right... A gold star for Kari Kamiya!_

Betsumon's arm was quivering, his expression twisted in rage, but he couldn't move any further no matter how hard he tried. He bowed his head. "Why can't I...? You're the reason I die! Again! It's your fault! You were the one who made him sad! You are the one who takes him from me! You are the reason I exist like this!"

Kari wobbled on her knees. The fever was rising again. She felt her throat close-up, the blurriness and warmth in her eyes— but she didn't think that came from the cloudiness in her head, she thought it came from somewhere deep in her chest, past the physical forces of her body and deep into the heart of all problems. She bit her bottom lip, holding back tears.

_I'm sick..._ she thought, trying to regain her composure. _My head... it's so hot... I..._

No, Kari suddenly realized. The heat did not come from any sickness. Sure, her body treated it as such, forcing her to faint or have a fever. But the heat wasn't from being sick. It had never come from being sick, not even when she was a small child staying home from summer camp.

The heat was light; the light inside of her swelling like a solar flare.

Just then, a wedding gown flopped over Betsumon's head, obstructing his sight. He flung backwards, teetering, and wrenched the dress off his face. Twisting around, he saw Babamon had used it to distract him. She snarled at him, "Don't touch the human children!"

"I'm sorry, Nat," Kari whispered, tears rolling off her chin and spilling to the ground below.

At that moment, Kari felt the burst of warmth overflow from within her, taking over her. The white light filled her pores and deluged from her body, grabbing hold of Betsumon and holding him close. Betsumon screeched, the light clouding his vision. Everyone – the digimon and the Dark Spore children and even Kari – all looked away as the light consumed Betsumon.

The darkness shot out of Betsumon, ascending above his head in the shape of a ghostly phantom. Its red eyes stared into Kari's, separate from the light, a hand reaching out for her. _**"I WILL HAVE THE LIGHT,"**_ the phantom screamed.

Kari knew it was the spirit of the Dark Ocean's Master, reaching out to touch the light. The heat flared inside of her, growing like a cacophony of beating drums, before she hurled all the heat, the light, the happiness straight into the phantom's chest. "YOU WON'T GET _**ANYTHING**_ FROM ME," Kari roared. "NOT FROM ME... NOT FROM KEIKO... AND _**NOT**_ FROM _**NAT**__!"_

The Phantom shrieked as the light covered him, overriding his data and tainting it into the light. The Master of the Dark Ocean would not have them today, or any other day so long as Kari breathed— Nat would have her wish. She _would_ be free, one way or the other.

As the darkness was submerged by the light, she could hear His voice calling out to her, just as it had all those years ago as the Dark Ocean flooded her vision. He said, _**"You may stop me this time, Kari Kamiya... but I will never stop searching for you... Someday, you will be my Queen."**_

Kari paused, thinking of the wedding gowns in Babamon's shop, of Davis's grin, of Tai's voice and TK's warmth. She then grinned, echoing Davis's own. "Bring it," she said with a laugh. "Being a queen... dealing with someone like you... ain't nobody got time for that!"

The darkness then dissipated, replaced by the light... and even when the light filtered away, they saw a vision of Nat floating on the wind, covered in blue flakes of data that flowed from her hair and coiled around her body. She was smiling at them.

"Thank you," she whispered to Kari. "Take care of him."

She then dispersed in a torrential swarm of blue-glowing fireflies that glided and fluttered and soared to the sky above, finally free.

It was over. Betsumon was defeated. Kari didn't want to kill him, God— that was the last thing she wanted to do, but that uncontrollable power just filled her up and flew towards him. Maybe... it was for the best.

In her heart, Kari knew Nat had been created by the master of the Dark Ocean. Engineered to hunt down Kari and the Dark Spore children in the real world, to exploit them and enslave them and sacrifice them, so that he could rise from the darkness and into the light. Kari just couldn't believe the Dark Ocean would take advantage of Davis's feelings for her in its evil plots.

"Kari!" cried a voice above her. She looked up to see Tai riding on Greymon's shoulder, while TK and Pegasusmon hovered in the air beside them. The both of them jumped to the ground and rushed in her direction. "God, we've been looking everywhere!" Tai said, hugging her. "We finally saw some explosions over here, but we were on the complete other side of the city. I told you to stay home! You could've died! You're sick, Kari... Are you okay?" He worriedly felt her forehead, then her cheeks, then frowned. "You... don't have a fever anymore..."

Kari, too, frowned. All this time, could the light that activated from her been in response to the Dark Ocean? That every time the Dark Ocean came close to her, the light inside of her burst, to protect her from it? The Dark Masters... they too had been close to the Dark Ocean, and before then, maybe the light had activated to protect her from the Digital World before they were on their way to summer camp. The light knew she'd be put in situations where the Dark Ocean could abduct her, and it protected her, all this time.

Kari supposed it made sense, in some morbid way.

"Don't worry about me," Kari said quietly, then pointed to Davis. "Uh, am I the only one who remembers that Davis is kind of bleeding out over there?"

"Shit, Davis!" Tai rushed to Davis's side, only glancing at a sobbing Keiko once before he bent down to check Davis's wound. He glanced up at Matt, Sora, Ken, and Yolei, surprise glazing his eyes, but he shook his head. As much as Kari was sure he wanted to run to his two best friends to check on them, priorities came first— Davis was bleeding out. "That explains why I couldn't get a hold of them. Thought they'd just gone off and eloped. Jeez. I don't know which I would have preferred... I'll get Davis to the doctor. TK, will you stay with her?"

TK nodded. Pegasusmon, Lighdramon, Angewomon, and Babamon offered to help carry the wounded to the nearest hospital, as Keiko dialed the ambulance on Tai's cellphone (it appeared Betsumon was smart enough to steal any possible communication devices, such as D-3s, digivices, cellphones, all of it...). Before long, the Destined, Dark Spore Children, and their partners slowly filed out of the area, being carried either by digimon or by ambulance to nearby hospitals. Soon, the only two people who remained were Kari and TK.

Silence. Kari said nothing as she stared at her hands. These hands helped trick Davis into letting Nat into his heart. Nat said the Master modeled her on Kari. The Dark Ocean's Master would have been smart enough to not make them look exactly alike, but to give her Kari's voice? Davis fell for Nat because she was basically Kari. And if things had gone as the Master wished, Davis would have led Nat straight to Kari, where the Master would take over her body and take Kari away from this world and the next.

Kari was used to being sought by the Dark Ocean. She never imagined it would go after someone she cared about, though.

"Are you really okay?" TK asked.

_Thank you,_ Nat had said.

Davis should have been there. He should have been able to say goodbye. He wouldn't have wanted Nat to die. He'd be so disappointed in her...

"No," Kari choked. TK wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

After a couple minutes, TK pulled away. She was still crying, but her tears were wiped away as TK looked at her closely for the first time since she woke up. He felt her face, her hair. The back of his hand rested on her forehead. It felt nice, to be touched by someone... He frowned. "You don't have a fever anymore."

That was the first time Kari glowed since she was 11 and in the Dark Ocean. And before that, when she was 8 and in the Digital World. Kari always thought that her glowing came from the power of her Crest. Because the others' Crests represented emotions, Kari thought that she could glow because her Crest represented a force of nature rather than a force of man. If anything, this conflict with Nat confirmed that.

It'd explain why Kari got sick more often when she was young, when she was glowing on a more frequent basis. Her body was adjusting to the light in her soul, begging to be released. Maybe that light sensed Nat when she took Keiko's form and fought with Davis in the alley, and that was why she felt sick again... because the light was warning her that darkness was at foot again, and it was coming for her. It was preparing her to glow again.

And now that Nat had been defeated, she was back to normal.

"What happened?" TK asked. For the first time in Kari's life, she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell TK something... where could she even begin? Could she tell him that she spent the entire first day back home with Davis? That she'd realized how grown up he became? How could she tell him that the master tried to abduct her again? This was the only time in her entire life when TK arrived too late to save her. And as he arrived too late, she learned once again, just as she had in the Dark Ocean, that only she could save herself.

Kari didn't know how it happened. All she knew was that she started breaking down and crying in TK's arms, telling him about Nat, and Betsumon, and that her naivete had allowed Gatomon to be locked up in a cage. How guilty she felt that Davis had possibly sacrificed his life to save her from the one person who had comforted him after Kari first rejected him.

Kari didn't feel bad for rejecting Davis all those years ago. He was silly, and possessive, and mean— but all of that was just a show he used to hide who he really was, his low self-esteem, his lack of confidence. If only she'd seen it then like she did now, that Davis was really just a scared boy who just wanted _someone_ to like him for who he was. She could see that now in 18-year-old Davis, who had grown into his ego, self-deprecating sense of humor and his passion for life and recipes. She saw it all.

"It'll be okay," TK whispered. He sighed and bent downward, showing his back to her. "C'mon."

Kari, cheeks still tearstained, raised an eyebrow. "TK, I'm not in the mood."

TK sweat-dropped. "I'm offering you a piggy-back ride, dork."

"Oh." Kari laughed awkwardly and then nodded, climbing up onto his back. TK stumbled at first, his legs shaking, and stood. Kari laughed. "I didn't think you'd make it."

"At first I didn't either," TK replied with a grin.

The two of them walked home, Kari on TK's back, as she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. After about five minutes, Kari began feeling annoyed with herself. "I just can—can't stop... it's sooo s—sad!" she said.

"That coffee you two had didn't happen to be Irish, was it?" TK asked with a laugh.

"Oh, hush!" She blushed and kneed his ribs.

TK hacked and lost his footing, landing face-first on the stair to the apartment. Kari was surprised by the sudden thrust of weight and flipped off his back, landing on her own back on the concrete in front of him. TK winced. She blushed more fiercely and gave a nervous grin. "Hehe... sorry."

All was forgiven, though, when she got to her hands and knees and dabbed her sleeve against an open cut on his forehead. He grimaced as the blood soaked her shirt, but she didn't mind. He was doing something nice to comfort her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in town?" TK asked curiously as the two sat on the steps of Kari's parents' apartment building.

Kari shrugged. "I wanted it to be a surprise! ...Until Davis ruined it..."

TK grinned. "Yeah, it was one heck of a surprise when Tai called me up and talked about 100 words per minute about you being unconscious. We were really worried, you know."

"I know..."

"_I_ was worried about you," TK continued, reaching up to grab the hand soaking up his blood. Kari hesitated, looking into the eyes of her best friend. They'd been through so much together. He was the one who went through dimensions to save her from the Dark Ocean... him, and Angewomon and Angemon...

Flashes of Davis went through her mind. Holding his hand in the cafe. His sadness as he talked about Keiko. His embrace as Betsumon exploded in a ray of light. His shock at realizing Nat's betrayal... And finally, his blood caking her face.

She should have stayed in the apartment with Davis. She should have never put him through all this pain. Sure, it was his suggestion and he had every right to go with her to find Gatomon. But if only she'd waited for the others... if only she'd snuck off on her own and left him alone...

Now he was sitting in the ER without the person who caused all his problems. Instead, Kari was sitting here, on these steps.

TK had never caused the sort of problems Kari caused Davis. He had never led her to the Dark Ocean, or rejected her feelings, or gotten together with someone else, or killed one of her exes before he could get the chance to reconcile with her. He'd never been the reason one of her exes caged another one of her exes. He'd never ignored her or avoided her, or stopped talking to her for months on end. Instead, he was there for her every step of the way. He protected her. He talked to her and listened to her. He helped save her from the Dark Ocean and defended her honor and integrity. He was her best friend.

Things weren't hard with TK. She didn't feel guilty... guilty for killing someone he at one time had feelings for, guilty for rejecting him, guilty for wanting to be the girl he kissed even though all his life she'd always said "no". The two had always supported each other. They were friends. They told each other everything. They'd even had sleepovers together, just the two of them. No one – not even their siblings – knew them as well as they knew each other.

All their lives, people had always encouraged them to get together, but for some reason, they never had. Even though it made all the sense in the world, they never dated. Kari didn't know why. It made sense. She and TK had been through everything together and supported one another unconditionally.

As TK held Kari's hand in his own, Kari leaned forward. Just an inch from his lips, she could feel his breath against her, see his eyes watching her own. His fingers entwined with hers.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She answered with a kiss.

It was warm. Wet. Soft... But there was something else, something that just didn't feel right.

_But it's TK,_ Kari thought. _Even Davis could see it. Everything has always been leading up to this moment._

And yet she'd spent the entire day with Davis. All of the events of the day were about her and Davis. Davis's old flame, Kari's old enemy... Why did spending time with Davis make her want to kiss TK so bad? Why kiss TK now in the ten years they'd known each other?

_Because you're confused,_ she told herself. _You told yourself you and TK were bound to happen someday, any day. To not rush yourself. To have fun and date around first, experience the single life, because you knew being with TK would be the end. But if you already knew he was your soulmate, why date around in the first place? Why want to get dating experience when you and TK were already so perfect for each other? It wasn't because you didn't want to rush it. It was because you knew... maybe TK... wasn't the one for you..._

She broke away. TK blinked, his fingers stiffening against her own. "I'm sorry, TK," she said, smiling sadly.

Before she'd said it, TK had already known. He smiled sadly back, clasping her cheek with his hand and nodding. "It's okay, Kari."

He knew her all too well.

"Still friends?" she asked.

"Always." He paused. "You going to go get your man?"

Kari grinned. "Hell yes."

"You might want to wipe off my blood first," he said, reaching up to wipe off the blood she'd gotten on her forehead from the gash on his own. Kari gave a sheepish grin and waved at him. "Okay, you're good. Now go! I release you into the wild!"

She smiled at him. "Thank you, TK."

(-102010201-)

"_The fireflies are gone..."_

"_So is she."_

"_Davis..."_

"_If I had become her partner..."_

"_Davis—"_

"_Because if I did—!"_

"_You can't!"_

"_Chibimon!"_

"_Because you're _**MY**_ partner!"_

The past conversation swirled in the recesses of Davis's mind as he swam in and out of consciousness. If only he hadn't given away Nat's egg back then... They'd thought they found her partner in a young boy, but apparently not. If only Davis had kept it for himself, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided... Willis was able to keep two partners, why not Davis?

No, he shouldn't blame himself. But because of him, Gatomon and Keiko could've died! Even Ken, or Yolei, or Matt or Sora— and the rest of the Dark Spore Children. And Kari... Nat almost _stabbed her_! Because of Davis's old infatuation with her, Davis had put all of them in danger. It was all his fault. He'd made Kari feel so guilty for how she treated him when they were kids, but after this, a part of him wondered if he'd deserved it. Because he could've been the reason she died.

Davis didn't want to wake up. If he woke up, he'd have to see her crying face. He'd have to hear her apologize to him, even though it was all his fault. He'd have to look into Keiko's face and see the horror she went through because of Nat's obsession. No, not _Nat's_ obsession— the Dark Ocean's. But still, it was because Davis followed that damn voice all those years ago that Nat found out who he was and who he was connected to in the first place. And Gatomon... Gatomon had already endured so much. He really hoped this didn't trigger any past memories of enduring Vamdemon's abuse.

All this time, Nat was looking for him. She basically took Keiko's memories and shaped herself around Keiko in order to trick Davis. That probably meant that night, after the cafe, whatever Nat said in Keiko's body probably had at least some shred of truth to it. All Davis's life, he thought he'd failed them. He thought he failed Nat. He thought he scared Keiko away. He thought he'd lost Kari's friendship. And all over again, he failed them. Nat... Keiko... even Kari.

How could Nat, or even Keiko, still have feelings for Davis? And after this, he was sure those feelings would leave and close the door behind them. Because Davis had failed.

But sure enough, there came a time when he knew he could no longer stay asleep. He felt something warm and soft graze his lips, a hand caress his face. In his mind, he whispered Kari's name, fearing for her safety...

"Davis," said a gentle voice.

"Nat?" Davis asked.

"I'm free now," Nat said. He opened his eyes to see her smiling at him. "Thank you for everything, Davis."

"Nat..."

As the vision of her disappeared, she was instead replaced by Keiko, who was hovering over him, her hand clasping his face and tears rolling down her cheeks. Was it really Keiko who kissed him? Was Nat merely a hallucination?

"I'm so happy you're awake," Keiko said, holding his cheeks in-between her palms. "I'm so sorry, Davis." She closed her eyes and kissed him. Davis hesitated, then closed his eyes and kissed her back. When she pulled away, she was still crying. "I love you. I was just scared, Davis— scared, and silly, and stupid. I love you. I love you!"

When he thought about it, he and Keiko were practically made for each other. She baked bread, he cooked noodles. She needed to remain positive to keep the Dark Spore in check, and Davis was a very positive guy. He was cocky, she was confident. She was insecure about her intelligence and so accepted the Dark Spore to be more like Ken Ichijouji, he was insecure about his intelligence and so overcompensated for his lack of confidence by being over-confident. They were both in the same place in life, struggling to get through college and start their adult lives... They made all the sense in the world.

Yet, as he stared into Keiko's eyes, he knew they were over. All this time, he'd thought of nothing but wanting to get Keiko back, of blaming himself for making her feel rushed. He always wanted to try again and prove to her that he was a good man and an even better boyfriend. But now... now, there was something holding him back.

An image, of a little cafe. A girl's brown eyes staring into his own. Her hand brushing his, then holding it close to her heart. Then he thought about that girl in a white dress, twirling in circles. Willing to wear a tuxedo to entertain him. Walking around a store with him as her bride, and her as his groom, for shits and giggles.

_Don't be stupid,_ he thought. _You have a beautiful woman staring you in the face confessing her love. You got over "that one" years ago— and one day together makes you lose your confidence again? No. You don't have a chance with Kari, and if you keep going for her, you will lose her friendship, too. Besides, if she likes you now, it's only because you saved her life and feels obligated to be with you. Move on, Davis._

_Move on with the only woman who could ever love you back... without, you know, killing you first._

"Keiko..." he whispered, reaching up to grab one of her hands.

"Davis—" said a voice from the doorway. Both Keiko and Davis looked up to see Kari, standing there, looking past Keiko and straight into Davis's eyes.

Davis found it hard to describe the way she was looking at him. With so much warmth, no longer befuddled by the confusion he saw in them in the cafe— and so much light, and kindness, and...

and love.

But seeing Keiko and Davis in such an intimate position, with Keiko leaning over him, her hands clasping his cheeks and his hands over her own, Kari hesitated. The light in her eyes dimmed, then she smiled sadly and waved a hand. "Oh, never mind. I'll... um... I'll come back later."

"Kari," Davis began, but she exited the room before he could say anything more.

Keiko looked between the two of them, then back at Davis. Her tears stopped flowing and she stood at full height. Davis slowly looked back at Keiko, staring deeply into her eyes, and held her hands in his own.

He and Keiko made sense. Keiko was just afraid to love him, which made sense since he hardly ever really opened up to her on any sort of truly deep level. But at the same time, he knew this wasn't the right way. As much as he found himself attracted to Keiko, there would always be a part of him who thought of Kari, and wondered, and who would fight to be noticed by her. And that wasn't fair to Keiko.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Keiko stood, stunned, then closed her eyes and sighed. Slowly pulling her hands away from his grip, she opened her eyes back up and said, "I... understand. I had my chance and... I ruined it. Goodbye, Davis..."

"Goodbye."

She left, leaving a trail of memories behind her. Davis just felt so confused. There was a time when he thought Keiko could have been the one for him. She was the first one he felt really connected to since... well, since Kari, or Nat. Nat had been so angry with him, and Kari... well, where could he even begin with Kari?

If he were to get together with Kari – that is, if she even wanted to – would he always feel bitter about all the times she rejected him as children? But they were just kids. How were they supposed to know? They were a bunch of kids fighting a war. They didn't really have time or even the maturity to think about love, or the future, or any of it.

"Kari?" Davis called out, knowing she was still out there. She peeked around the doorframe at him, blinking. Davis grinned. "You snoop."

"What?" she said. "I was just... curious..."

"Why?" he asked.

Kari remained silent. Then she asked, "Did you and Keiko uh get back together?"

"Uh, no," Davis replied with a slight smile, remembering their many "uh" jokes over the past couple days. It was strange to think this all had taken place only over a couple days. It felt so much longer than that.

Things were awkward at first, as she sat on the edge of his bed, looking over his wound. Joe did a pretty good job with it. The youngest surgeon of his peers, he was already the most impressive... Kari was glad Joe was the one who helped Davis, even if Joe typically worked on digimon instead of humans.

Davis was the first to break the silence. "You're doing that whole bottling thing again, except this time you're also shaking it."

Kari looked up at him. "And how am I doing that?"

"You want to tell me something, but you don't know how, so you're keeping it to yourself even though you know I'm waiting." He grinned a little. "Better hurry before the bottle explodes."

"I think I might..." Kari said, avoiding eye contact with him.

Davis used his index finger to brush her chin and lightly turn her face back toward him. "Might what?"

"Might have feelings for you," she said.

"Is it because of this?" He gesticulated to the wound in his ribs. "Cause I don't want a pity date... or to make you feel obligated. Cause if you hadn't noticed, I have options and you don't need to—"

"No," Kari interrupted, leaning toward him. Davis paused. Her eyes were just a couple inches from his own. "No, it's not out of pity or some messed-up form of weird gratitude. I mean, thank you for taking the hit for me. It was very gallant. But that's not why."

"Then why?" Davis asked. "Why now, Kari? Why after all these years?"

"It doesn't matter how long it took," Kari replied. She took Davis's face in her hands and leaned her forehead against his. "All that matters is that I've realized something important. I like you. A lot. I think I might even want to love you. And I definitely want to go out with you."

"But..."

"Shh," she said, the tips of their noses touching. Her eyes narrowing.

Ever since that summer, Davis had troubles letting people into his heart. He'd sabotaged his relationship with Keiko. And even though Kari didn't know how she felt then, she knew now— and maybe, this was a sign that Davis could open up again. Feel free again.

Maybe now, they could _all_ be free.

"But..." As their lips nearly touched, Davis said, "I've already seen you in a wedding dress... Bad luck..."

Their intimate moment was disturbed by Kari's giggles. As she pulled back to laugh, Davis smirked and grabbed her by the arm. Mid-laugh, he stopped it with a kiss as one hand clasped the back of her head, fingers tangled in her hair, his other hand wrapped around her back. She stopped giggling to lean in deeper, her hands clasping his face.

At first warm and gentle, then deeper, harder— tongues touching— breath quickening— and as the kiss parted, Davis looked her in the eye, his voice low as he whispered the one thing she wanted to hear most.

"I want to love you, too."

"Davis..." she began, caressing his cheek. Then her expression was disturbed by a couple wrinkles, her smile turning into a frown. "I have something I need to tell you."

"Just don't tell me you're actually an ex-girlfriend in the body of my current girlfriend and we'll do okay."

"No, Davis, it's..." Kari paused. "Nat. It's Nat."

"Nat, I thought we talked about this," Davis said with a grin. "Stop taking the appearance of my girlfriends."

"No, no," she said, interrupting his chuckles. "I'm not..."

"I know you're not Nat," he said. "I'm being facetious. Why so serious all of a sudden? Kari, what's up?"

"I..." Kari bit her bottom lip. "Betsumon wouldn't let go of her. The Master of the Dark Ocean wouldn't release her. I... I stopped her, Davis," Kari whispered.

"Stopped her?"

"I killed her, Davis," Kari said. Tears filled her eyes. "I killed Nat."

Davis stopped. The loving light that had flooded his eyes seconds before now turned to confusion. "You... Why didn't you tell me that before...?"

Kari bowed her head. "I was afraid. I— I wanted to tell you how I felt, before you kicked me out of your life for good."

"You shouldn't have told me how you felt," Davis said, slowly pushing her hands away from him. "Not until after you told me about Nat. I... I had a feeling she died. Maybe a premonition. But I didn't think..."

"I know," Kari said. "I'm sorry, Davis." Tears continued filling her eyes. "All of this is my fault. You never would have even met Nat if it weren't for me. You wouldn't have had to suffer through all this! I did this to you... and then I killed Nat... and now I'm pretty sure I'm the reason you and Keiko aren't getting back together. I shouldn't have even..." She bit her bottom lip for a second, trying to hold back the tears, then said, "I shouldn't have put all this pressure on you. I shouldn't have..."

"Stop," he said, placing his index finger on her lips. The anger in his eyes softened, until it subsided completely. "Just stop," he continued. "You're doing it again," he said. "Placing all the blame on yourself. Bottling your anger at the Dark Ocean. And now you're afraid that I'll leave and you won't admit it."

"But— after what I _did— _asking you to forgive after how I acted when we were younger— I'm why you're so afraid of letting people in—"

"You didn't do anything wrong!" he said, grabbing her by the wrists and pulling her into his chest, his arms folding around her. He felt her heart beat against the wound in his ribcage, pulsing— his voice was firm as he said, "Kari, you were _11._ And I was being a little twerp. You had no control over how any of this went down! Kari, you were the _victim_ in this, not the perpetrator, not the aggressor. I care about Nat. I will always care about Nat. But there was nothing anyone could do. You don't have to bear all the guilt by yourself, Kari. I wasn't able to save her, either. You don't have to keep it all to yourself!"

Kari looked up at him, her fingers digging trenches in the chest of his hospital gown.

It was hard to comprehend, that Nat was a creation based on Kari to catch Davis's attention. That Nat was always meant to use Davis. But all of this never would have happened if Davis never had real feelings for Kari. And no matter how confusing the situation was, Davis had to learn to let people in. And maybe, this was just the opportunity. An opportunity to put away all his rage. An opportunity to seal up his sadness. An opportunity to really, truly tell someone how he felt without fearing their rejection.

"I still want you," Davis said. "I don't know if this relationship will really go anywhere serious, and I can't promise we'll be together forever. But I want to be. I want to be with you for a long, long time. And if you're interested in that, nothing else matters. Because whatever happens, we'll get through it together."

Kari's eyes widened. "Do you mean that?"

"I wouldn't lie to you," he said, holding her close. "I'll just admit it. No fear. You and I have known each other for quite some time, so yeah. You know what? I love you."

Kari smiled. All this time, they thought they were meant for other people, as though it was written in the stars. Neither of them knew that their destiny together had nothing to do with stars or other people. That Davis's silly childhood crush would one day turn into love, or the girl who thought she was supposed to be with someone else would instead turn to the silly boy who dressed up as the Digimon Emperor to impress her.

Odaiba was a place of many memories.

It was the city where she met Gatomon. It was the city they defeated Vamdemon in. It was the city where she learned of her destiny as a Chosen Child. And it was in this city that she fell in love.

"I love you," he repeated again, entangling his fingers in her hair as he lowered his face. "I love you, love you, love you."

She giggled and kissed him. It was a long kiss, tender and sweet. And when she pulled away, she gave him an Eskimo kiss and said, "Well, I love you, love you, love you, too."

"Awww, what's going on in HERE?" said a voice from the doorway.

Both Kari and Davis jumped. "Yolei?!" Kari asked. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting rest?"

"Eh, I rested all night and day," Yolei replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Kari, you can do soo much better! Puke!"

"Oh, shut-up, Yolei!" Davis barked.

"Are we disturbing this little love nest?" said another voice, this time coming from Sora as she peeked in a second later. She was followed by Matt, Tai, TK, Cody, and Joe, who shuffled into the tiny room. Davis waved his arms in an exaggerated way as they peeped around each other's shoulders to see the state of one another.

Ken came in a second later to see Kari sitting next to Davis. Ken grinned at Davis. "You two finally get together?" When Kari and Davis blushed, Ken chuckled. "Well, it's not like he hasn't had a crush on you for forever..."

Davis gave a flustered blush. "I hate you all."

They laughed.

The day continued on in good spirits. So much had been going on that Kari and Davis had completely forgotten that it was Christmas Eve. By the end of the night, the hospital released him on serious pain meds and told him to take it easy. They then went over to Matt and Sora's flat for Christmas celebrations, laughing and joking, and getting over the terrible events from the day before.

Davis hung an ornament on the tree for Nat, next to pictures of himself and the other Destined. Honoring her memory, that though she started as a construct of evil purpose, she rose above it and became her own person with her own agenda. Because of Nat, they saved the Dark Spore Children as well as Matt, Sora, Ken, and Yolei from the Master of the Dark Ocean.

The night continued on happily, with Davis spiking Joe's drink (_"Well if I can't get drunk cause of the meds you gave me, might as well make you drunk instead!"_). Joe and an intoxicated Mimi (who had connected to them on Skype) went on to drunkily sing Christmas carols. Yolei "caught" Ken under the mistletoe (if by "caught" you mean she "accidentally" shoved him under it and played innocent). Izzy sent postcards of himself, Tentomon, and Gennai in the Dino Region and surfing with Azulongmon on the Net Ocean. How they managed to get Azulongmon on a surfboard, Davis and Kari had no idea. Cody suspected Photoshop. Tai threw up in Sora's hat again, to which she was screaming "Stupid Tai!" all night, and Matt got into a verbal brawl with TK over Astronauts VS Cavemen.

By the end of the night, TK and Kari were joining Joe and Mimi in singing drunken Christmas songs as Davis tried to escape a furious Gatomon by running in circles around the Christmas tree. Veemon and Patamon had overindulged in Christmas goodies and were watching _A Christmas Story_ in a sugar coma ("Oh, fudge," Veemon remarked. "I like fudge. Why do they keep saying fudge like that, Davish?"). Biyomon and Hawkmon were holding each other's wings as they stargazed. Agumon and Gabumon joked about beating each other – jokes that turned real when they got all up in each other's business – until Gomamon broke them up and made a phallic "who's got a bigger ego" quip. Wormmon had tried some of the human alcoholic concoctions and had taken to sitting on Ken's shoulder the whole night and nuzzling his face, occasionally clinging to it when Yolei threatened to kiss Ken (instead making it so she kissed Wormmon instead, then he'd giggle and hiccup). Armadillomon kept asking people if they could go to a bar and ride the mechanical bull, which Davis was tempted to take him up on.

On and on the night went, the Destined laughing and joking around and forgetting the trauma they'd been through for the last ten years. When they were together, none of it really mattered— because they would always have one another.

And just then, the city seemed to have one more happy memory attached to it.

THE END

**Author's Note: **Okay, narrative-wise it's not my best-written story. Description is pretty lax. And compared to The Lighthouse and Demon Chronicles, there is relatively no action whatsoever which is... very odd for a Glory Nizenea production. But I was listening to "Wedding Dress" by Matt Nathanson and this idea popped into my head (well, mainly I pictured Kari trying on wedding dresses, then trying to force Davis to try them on— which, c'mon, who doesn't want to see that?), so I couldn't help it. :) I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Also, Davis mentioning the girl he met in New York who turned out to be a digimon happened in an audio drama called _Natsu e no Tobira_. It was a major surprise that it played such a big role while writing this, because I didn't mean for it to develop the way it did, but I felt that was the natural direction to go in with the story themes.

This story came to me a couple years ago after a really nasty breakup. It was kind of therapeutic to write it, even if I didn't realize at the time that I was projecting a lot of what I was feeling onto the characters. I really sympathized with Davis, because he was feeling the same emotions I was. Funnily enough, about a year after that guy and I broke up, I got together with my own Kari (a guy I'd liked years ago, and who knew very well that I was crazy about him, but we were just friends for the longest time; we've been together for over a year now...). So the Kari/Davis/Keiko situation was my subconscious working out what was happening in my real life, and I didn't even realize until rereading this story about a year and half after I wrote it. So issues, let me show you them. :) Hopefully you enjoyed this little story! I know I enjoyed writing it.

**Sayonara!**


End file.
